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EDUCATION  FOR 
MORAL  GROWTH 


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EDUCATION  FOR 
MORAL  GROWTH 


v/  BY 

HENRY  NEUMANN,  Ph.D. 


INSTRUCTOR  IN  ETHICS  AND  EDUCATION  IN  THE  ETHICAL  CULTURE 
SCHOOL,  NEW  YORK  CITY;  LEADER  OF  THE  BROOKLYN  SOCIETY 
FOR  ETHICAL  CULTURE;  AUTHOR  OF  “TEACHING  AMERI¬ 
CAN  IDEALS  THROUGH  LITERATURE”  AND  “mOBAL 
VALUES  IN  SECONDARY  EDUCATION” 


D.  APPLETON  AND  COMPANY 

NEW  YORK  1928  LONDON 


Copyright,  1923,  by 
D.  APPLETON  AND  COMPANY 


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PRINTED  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA 


TO 

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PREFACE 


In  many  circles,  education  is  supposed  to  be  a  matter 
which  is  best  left  to  the  exclusive  care  of  teachers  and 
school  boards.  The  assumption  is  that  while  parents  and 
other  folk  are  of  course  concerned  in  a  general  way  about 
better  life  for  our  youth,  in  the  main  it  is  the  professional 
people  who  should  do  all  the  necessary  thinking  and  plan¬ 
ning  to  this  end. 

This  book  is  addressed,  however,  to  all  who  appreciate 
what  a  real  influence  on  educational  procedure  is  exerted 
by  people  outside  the  schools  and  colleges  and  how  essential 
it  is  that  they  interest  themselves  in  all  the  big,  underlying 
problems;  for  it  is  they  who,  by  their  indifference  as  well 
as  by  their  active  concern,  decide  in  the  long  run  what 
the  young  shall  be  taught,  with  what  ultimate  objects  in 
view,  and  by  what  methods.  In  no  field  of  human  activity 
is  there  a  greater  and  more  permanent  need  of  what 
Matthew  Arnold  called  “a  current  of  fresh  ideas”;  and 
if  more  of  such  streams  are  to  invigorate  the  life  of  school 
and  society,  the  efforts  of  forward-looking  educators  within 
the  schools  must  receive  all  possible  encouragement  from 
the  liberal-minded  outside. 

It  is  in  the  hope  of  suggesting  trains  of  thought  upon 
this  need  that  the  following  chapters  are  written.  They 
invite  teachers  and  parents  to  consider  how  many  oppor¬ 
tunities  to  promote  a  better  life  for  our  world  lie  at  hand 
in  the  moral  resources  of  the  school.  The  subjects  studied, 
the  methods  employed,  the  examples  of  fellow  pupils  and 

teachers,  the  daily  practices  of  one  sort  and  another,  the 

•  • 

Vll 


PREFACE 


•  •  • 

Vlll 

attitudes  which  young  people  are  encouraged  to  take  toward 
life  in  all  their  contacts  with  school,  home,  vocation,  com¬ 
munity — all  these  constitute  occasions  to  develop  ideals,  out¬ 
looks,  habits,  of  a  kind  sorely  needed  in  the  world  and  of  a 
better  kind  than  are  likely  where  attention  is  not  focused 
upon  them.  These  opportunities  are  given  specific  treat¬ 
ment  in  these  pages. 

But  if  these  moral  resources  are  to  be  used  to  the  best 
advantage,  it  is  essential  that  all  care  be  given  to  thinking 
out  what  we  are  to  understand  by  ‘  *  better  life.  ’  ’  Some  traits 
of  character  are  more  worth  developing  than  others.  Some 
ideals^ — for  example,  those  of  liberty  and  democracy — ^may 
be  interpreted  in  all  sorts  of  beneficent  or  hurtful  ways. 
Moreover,  avowals  of  moral  purpose  tend  to  become  mere 
lip-service  unless  their  implications  are  constantly  sub¬ 
jected  to  fresh  examination  and  the  vision  of  their  high 
demands  thus  clarified.  Ever-renewed  understanding  of 
the  direction  in  which  educational  efforts  should  aim  is  a 
prime  requisite. 

A  few  suggestions  on  this  head  are  offered  in  the  chapters 
which  examine  the  ethical  meanings  in  democracy  and 
the  ethical  values  and  limitations  in  the  leading  ideas 
which  have  shaped  American  education  thus  far.  The  word 
suggestions^^  should  be  repeated;  for  on  a  subject  so  vast 
as  the  relation  of  education  to  life,  complete  agreement  on 
all  points  can  scarcely  be  expected.  The  certitude  attained 
in  the  physical  sciences  is  still  far  from  being  the  rule  in 
ethics  and  education.  The  best  that  any  person  can  do  is 
to  set  down  the  things  which  seem  true  and  important  to 
him.  That  every  reader  should  be  fully  in  accord  with  any 
writer  on  ethics  is  of  immensely  less  consequence  than  that 
each  should  be  moved  to  think  out  his  convictions  for 
himself. 

For  similar  reasons,  no  expectation  is  entertained  that 
any  one  ethical  philosophy  must  become  the  object  of  study 


PREFACE 


IX 


in  elementary  and  secondary  schools.  Indeed,  it  is  no 
more  necessary  for  pupils  in  these  years  to  take  a  course 
in  any  system  of  first  principles  whatever  than  it  is  for 
the  teacher  to  discuss  the  philosophy  of  aesthetics  with 
them  in  order  to  win  a  love  of  things  beautiful.  Never¬ 
theless,  even  before  our  youth  are  able  to  grasp  the  con¬ 
ceptions  which  appeal  to  more  mature  minds,  it  means 
much  for  the  interpreter  to  have  his  own  ideas  properly 
orientated.  Those  who  teach  even  the  youngest  need  a 
plan  of  life  far  more  than  the  single  stage  with  which  they 
deal;  and  though  the  pupil  is  unconscious  of  these  distant 
goals,  he  will  be  the  better  prepared  to  see  them  later  for 
himself  if  their  inspiration  shines  *at  all  times  through  the 
efforts  of  his  teachers.  It  is  for  this  reason  that,  before 
considering  details  of  ways  and  means,  so  much  of  the 
book  is  given  to  examining  fundamental  principles. 

The  views  here  offered  are  the  outcome  of  experience 
in  school,  college  and  settlement,  and  especially  in  the 
Ethical  Culture  School  of  New  York  and  in  other  activities 
conducted  by  the  Societies  for  Ethical  Culture  of  New  York 
and  Brooklyn.  To  Prof.  Felix  Adler  the  debt  is  more  than 
I  can  adequately  acknowledge. 

The  illustrations  are  drawn  from  many  different  types 
of  public  and  private  schools.  Though  many  of  them  come 
from  the  practice  of  the  Ethical  Culture  School,  the  book 
is  in  no  sense  an  official  publication.  No  authorization  has 
been  given  to  speak  for  the  School  as  a  whole,  and  no  such 
commitment  is  here  implied.  In  this  connection  I  wish  to 
express  to  the  School  and  particularly  to  its  Superin¬ 
tendent,  Franklin  C.  Lewis,  a  grateful  appreciation  of  its 
support  of  the  principle  of  academic  freedom  during  the 
tense  years  of  the  war  and  its  aftermath. 

For  criticisms  and  for  other  help  I  owe  thanks  to  my 
wife  and  to  these  friends  and  co-workers:  Miss  Mabel  T. 
Burnham,  Dr.  John  L.  Elliott,  Leo  Jacobs,  Clarence  D. 


X 


PREFACE 


Kingsley,  Moritz  Kirehberger,  Charles  H.  Lawson,  Robert 
S.  Lynd,  Prof.  David  S.  Muzzey,  Mrs.  Miriam  S.  Price, 
Herbert  W.  Smith,  Vivian  T.  Thayer,  Mrs.  Agnes  D. 
Warbasse.  Acknowledgment  is  also  tendered  to  the  editors 
of  the  American  Review,  the  Educational  Review,  the 
International  Journal  of  Ethics,  the  Journal  of  the  National 
Education  Association,  and  the  bulletins  of  the  U.  S. 
Bureau  of  Education,  for  permission  to  reprint  matter 
which  has  appeared  in  their  publications. 


H.  N. 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

Preface . .  vii 

CHAPTER 

I.  Introduction .  1 

PART  I 

THE  ETHICAL  IMPLICATIONS  OF  DEMOCRACY 

II.  Ethical  Uses  of  Freedom . 15 

III.  The  Meaning  of  Equality . 32 

IV.  The  Spiritual  Ideal . 47 

PART  II 

CONTRIBUTIONS  TO  AMERICA’S  IDEALS 

V.  The  Puritan  Offering . 67 

VI.  The  Spirit  of  Nationalism . 85 

VII.  The  Tradition  of  Classical  Culture  ....  106 

VIII.  The  Contribution  of  Modern  Science  .  .  .  120 

IX.  The  Demand  for  Vocational  Fitness  .  .  .  137 

X.  The  Pragmatist  Criticism . 166 

PART  III 

THE  RESOURCES  OF  TO-DAY  AND  TO-MORROW 

XI.  Moral  Activities . 191 

XII.  Direct  Moral  Instruction . 213 

XIII.  Moral  Values  in  the  Various  Studies  ...  247 

xi 


Xll 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  PAG- 

XrV.  Native  and  Acquired  Promptings  ....  29H 

XV.  The  Power  op  the  Feelings  .  .  .  .  .  .  318 

XVI.  Religious  Education . 331 

XVII.  The  Teacher . 351 

Index  . 375 


EDUCATION  FOR 
MORAL  GROWTH 


EDUCATION  FOR 
MORAL  GROWTH 


CHAPTER  I 

INTRODUCTION 

A  GROUP  of  young  people  were  discussing  current  topics. 
Someone  called  into  question  the  propriety  of  the  conduct 
of  a  Cabinet  officer  who  had  resigned  his  portfolio  for  a 
commercial  position  at  a  salary  ten  times  larger.  A  minority 
agreed  that  although  the  act  was  not  particularly  reprehen¬ 
sible — most  men  would  have  done  as  he  did — nevertheless 
there  was  about  it  something  not  altogether  praiseworthy. 
In  this  view,  when  a  man  accepted  a  public  office  so  impor¬ 
tant,  a  claim  could  very  well  be  made  in  favor  of  his  dis¬ 
missing  any  thought  of  higher  financial  rewards.  Most  of 
the  group,  however,  were  of  opinion  that  there  was  nothing 
in  the  act  in  the  least  questionable,  and,  indeed,  that  to 
suggest  any  doubts  upon  the  matter  was  perilously  close  to 
impertinence.  ‘‘He  had  a  perfect  right  to  take  the  better 
job.’^ 

In  a  later  discussion,  the  conduct  of  another  official  came 
under  review.  This  was  a  legislator  who  had  been  instru¬ 
mental  in  obtaining  the  passage  of  a  law  to  benefit  a  body 
of  public  servants.  To  show  their  gratitude  these  benefici¬ 
aries  had  presented  the  man’s  wife  with  a  costly  set  of 

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EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


silver.  Was  it  right  to  accept  the  gift?  Again  opinion 
was  divided.  A  few  held  that  even  though  the  present  had 
come  affer  the  man’s  act,  and  though  there  was  no  reason 
to  suppose  his  vote  had  been  influenced  by  expectation  of 
the  gift,  nevertheless  a  stricter  scruple  would  have  for¬ 
bidden  its  acceptance.  Presents  to  lawmakers  and  judges 
for  past  services,  they  thought,  might  exercise  an  unde¬ 
served  influence  upon  future  decisions  involving  the  inter¬ 
ests  of  the  givers.  Not  all  concurred  in  this  view,  and, 
characteristically  enough,  most  of  those  who  dissented  had 
held  in  the  earlier  discussion  that  the  resignation  of  the 
Cabinet  officer  was  above  question. 

Standards  differ,  and  the  lower  standard  is  not  neces¬ 
sarily  a  sign  of  wickedness.  But  these  young  people,  from 
good  homes,  with  reputable,  more  or  less  cultivated  parents, 
had  all  applauded  and  practiced  the  war-time  injunctions 
of  service  to  the  flag  ;  and  now,  when  the  idea  of  disinter¬ 
ested  public  service  was  brought  into  a  discussion  of  current 
events,  some  were  bewildered,  and  some  were  even  resentful. 
“Why  drag  in  the  war?”  It  is  curious  how  often  such 
reference  to  the  war  excites  displeasure.  In  many  a  circle, 
when  mention  is  made  of  the  fact  that  to  keep  up  the  price 
of  certain  foodstuffs,  whole  carloads  are  dumped  into  the 
ocean  or  permitted  to  rot,  nothing  is  more  irritating  than 
a  reminder  of  the  war-time  appeals  to  conserve  food  and 
subordinate  the  thought  of  profit. 

How  far  these  attitudes  are  typical  not  all  observers 
would  agree.  But  they  are  common  enough  to  raise  dis¬ 
quieting  questions  about  the  kind  of  ideals  taught  in  homes, 
schools,  colleges,  and  churches.  If  these  young  people  were 
not  wicked,  neither  were  they  at  all  unintelligent.  They 
were  simply  unawakened  upon  one  side  of  their  natures. 
But  this  happens  to  be  precisely  the  side  where  awakening 
is  most  urgently  needed.  The  problem  is  more  than  a  ques¬ 
tion  of  right  thinking  about  public  service  or  of  codes  for 


INTRODUCTION  , 


3 


lawmakers  or  business  men.  It  is  a  problem  of  thorough¬ 
going  ethical  ideals  for  the  whole  of  life,  and  it  is  here 
that  we  fall  lamentably  short.  The  gravest  'problem  for 
school,  home,  and  communit'y  to-day  is  not  raised  by  the 
relatively  small  number  of  crimiimls.  It  is  raised  by  the 
moral  unenlightenment  of  the  much  larger  number  of  quite 
respectable  persons.  These  have  no  philosophy  of  life  to 
point  to  higher  levels  of  conduct  for  all — not  one  or  two — 
of  lifers  relationships.  They  have  one  set  of  standards  for 
home  affairs,  another  for  business;  one  for  duty  toward 
the  nation,  another  for  obligation  toward  the  home  town; 
one  for  war  days,  another  for  peace.  The  marriage  prob¬ 
lem,  the  labor  problem,  the  international  situation,  the  ques¬ 
tions  thrust  upon  us  in  America  and  elsewhere  by  the  con¬ 
tacts  of  the  racially  or  otherwise  unlike,  these  are  thought 
of  by  only  the  few  in  the  light  of  high,  comprehensive  ideals 
for  the  destiny  of  all  human  life.  “Be  assured,”  said* 
Gladstone,  “that  life  is  a  great  and  noble  calling,  not  a 
mean  or  groveling  thing  through  which  we  are  to  shuffle 
as  we  can,  but  a  lofty  and  elevated  destiny.”  Can  we  say 
that  any  such  conviction  supplies  to  most  of  our  college 
graduates  a  focalizing  direction  for  their  home  life,  their 
business,  their  politics,  their  entire  dealings  ? 

The  lives  of  those  who  cannot  afford  to  go  to  college 
reflect  the  same  lack.  For  most  of  the  working  classes  there 
is  very  little  in  their  occupations  as  now  conducted  to  call 
out  any  love  of  their  work  or  any  capacity  for  high,  disin¬ 
terested  endeavor.  And  because  they  have  no  sense  that 
their  work  is  contributing  to  anything  great,  they  do  it  sul¬ 
lenly  or  apathetically;  or  they  break  out  into  sporadic 
revolt;  or  they  find  compensation  and  release  by  imitating 
in  their  own  way  the  upper-class  pursuit  of  senseless  luxu¬ 
ries.  Far  more  lives  to-day  are  left  empty  by  the  lack  of 
high  ideals  than  are  ruined  by  the  downright  criminality 
over  which  it  is  easy  enough  to  arouse  alarm. 


4 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


For  remedy  we  must  look  to  changes  in  our  social 
mechanism,  but  the  fundamental  resource  must  be,  in  the 
largest  sense,  educational.  The  word  is  in  some  respects 
unfortunate.  Like  ‘‘democracy’’  or  “progress,”  “educa¬ 
tion”  has  come  for  many  minds  to  lose  all  sparkle  and 
freshness.  Its  repetition  suggests,  in  thought,  the  most 
wearisome  of  stale  generalities,  and,  in  practice,  routine 
exhortations  from  an  army  of  tired  teachers  and  professors. 
And  yet  these  three  words  can  speak,  if  we  will  let  them,  of 
realities  close  to  our  hearts — living  hopes,  faith  in  men,  vis¬ 
ions,  perennially  creative,  of  men’s  power  to  shape  for  them¬ 
selves  immensely  nobler  lives  than  earth  has  yet  been  for¬ 
tunate  enough  to  greet.  It  is  with  these  that  this  book  is 
concerned,  and  with  the  things  their  inspiration  can  bring 
to  pass  wherever  young  lives  are  touched  by  older  for  better 
or  for  worse.  A  centralizing  motive  to  excellent  life  will  be 
supplied  when  our  cultural  agencies  hold  up  as  their  justifi¬ 
cation  the  progressive  remaking  of  democratic  society.  The 
crying  need  is  for  ideals,  spiritual  ideals,  which  will  put  the 
breath  of  life  into  our  professions  of  faith  in  democracy 
and  progress  and  bring  all  our  behaviors,  public  and  pri¬ 
vate,  into  living,  creative  interaction.  In  a  society  whose 
ideals  of  democracy  were  spiritualized,  the  distinctive  best 
in  every  person  would  be  set  free  in  seeking  to  release  it 
in  others.  The  same  would  be  true  of  the  relations  of  indi¬ 
viduals  with  groups  and  of  groups  with  one  another.  There 
could  be  no  compartmenting  of  conduct  into  public  and 
private.  Each  activity  would  call  forth  higher  activity  in 
everv  other. 

The  content  of  such  an  ideal  and  its  demands  will  be 
developed  in  the  chapters  which  follow.  Two  reflections, 
however,  are  essential  at  the  outset :  How  far  are  we  genu¬ 
inely  committed  to  our  professions  of  faith  in  progress? 
What  vital  meanings  do  we  attach  to  the  “democracy” 
which  we  make  our  leading  watchword? 


INTKODUCTION 


5 


If  we  really  believe  that  the  one  most  important  task  for 
an  older  generation  is  to  help  future  generations  to  be  better 
and  wiser  than  itself,  to  what  sort  of  betterment  and  wisdom 

4 

are  we  pledged!  tell  you  seriously,’^  said  Secretary 
Franklin  K.  Lane,  “we  are  not  a  serious  people  except  when 
we  are  scared.’^  He  was  referring  to  two  equally  distress¬ 
ing  facts:  first,  that  a  quarter  of  our  population  were 
unable  to  read  and  write,  and,  second,  that  he  found  it 
exceedingly  hard  to  move  the  nation  to  get  rid  of  the  dis¬ 
grace.  Illiteracy  will  undoubtedly  be  wiped  out.  But  the 
fundamental  problem  will  still  be  with  us.  What  are  the 
best  uses  to  which  the  lettered  can  put  their  acquisition? 
“If  the  majority  of  infiuential  persons  held  the  opinions 
and  occupied  the  point  of  view  that  a  few  rather  uninflu- 
ential  people  now  do,  there  would,  for  instance,  be  no  likeli¬ 
hood  of  another  great  war ;  the  whole  problem  of  ‘  labor  and 
capital^  would  be  transformed  and  attenuated;  national 
arrogance,  race  animosity,  political  corruption  and  ineffi¬ 
ciency  would  all  be  reduced  below  the  danger  point.’’ ^ 
And  the  expulsion  of  these  obvious  evils  would  be  only  a 
first  step,  no  more. 

True,  there  was  a  great  outpouring  of  forward-looking 
devotion  during  the  war.  In  the  hope  of  promoting  a 
better  life  for  the  race,  heroic  young  souls  shrank  from  no 
hardship  and  no  danger.  In  many  lives  a  new  sense  of 
international  kinship  was  born  and  a  new  vision  of  world- 
fraternity.  But  the  uglier  revelations  also  have  come — ^the 
orgies  of  profiteering,  the  aggravated  jingoisms,  the  sharp¬ 
ened  bigotries,  the  freshened  race  dislikes  and  labor  strife 
(mocking  the  war-time  protestations  of  unity  and  brother¬ 
hood),  the  general  relapse  into  old  apathies  once  the  victory 
was  attained.  It  is  relatively  a  small  number  who  have  been 
impelled  by  the  experiences  of  the  war  and  its  aftermath 
to  look  deep  into  the  human  mind  and  soul  and  ask  what 


1  J.  H.  Robinson,  The  Mind  in  the  Making,  p.  1. 


6 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


changes  must  take  place  there  to  make  this  a  really*  better 
world.  Think  only  how  many  college  graduates  would  be 
ashamed  to  be  seen  driving  1920  models  of  automobiles  in 
1923  but  are  quite  willing  to  live  on  the  political  and  social 
outlooks  of  1820  and  earlier. 

There  has  been  progress,  of  course.  Our  schools  are  much 
better  than  they  were  fifty  years  ago ;  our  political  methods 
are  improving;  our  interest  in  beauty,  in  social  justice,  is 
wider-spread.  But  a  community  of  rogues  might  make 
these  external  improvements  for  its  own  purposes.  The 
great  need  is  a  change  for  the  better  within  the  sanctuary, 
in  the  souls  of  men  and  women.  One  looks  out  upon  a  world 
where,  for  four  years,  millions  of  beings  poured  their 
mightiest  energies  into  war ’s  work  of  destruction ;  and  then 
one  pictures  a  globe  where  people  would  put  even  a  fraction 
of  that  zeal  into  tasks  more  constructive.  A  radical  trans¬ 
formation,  no  doubt!  But  when  our  educational  institu¬ 
tions  say  that  their  aim  is  to  promote  progress  by  building 
up  character,  do  they  mean  that  they  are  thinking  of  change 
in  terms  at  all  so  thoroughgoing  ?  Let  us  from  first  to  last 
set  our  moral  standards  high. 

Perhaps  our  trouble  is  that  we  shrink  from  a  word  with 
some  of  the  unlovely  connotations  which  have  gathered 
around  that  term,  ‘  ‘  moral. Or  else  we  do  not  examine 
the  richer,  finer  meanings  it  may  embrace.  In  some  circles, 
the  word  is  in  ill  repute  because  it  betokens,  and  needlessly, 
a  dismal  suppression.  To  others,  morality  means  merely 
not  to  lie,  not  to  steal,  to  be  ‘  Wirtuous,  ^  ^  to  obey  the  conven¬ 
tional  precepts:  you  can  lead  a  ^‘good’’  life  if  you  keep 
'within  the  bounds  of  your  community's  standards  with 
respect  to  falsehood,  unchastity,  and  the  like.  Whether 
then  you  carry  such  morality  over  into  business  or  politics, 
or  in  any.  way  interest  yourself  in  a  better  social  ethics, 
is  quite  unimportant.  The  educational  ambition  of  more 
respectable  families  than  we  can  begin  to  count  is  that  their 


INTRODUCTION 


7 


young  people  grow  up  into  law-abiding,  undisgraced,  com¬ 
fortable  citizens  who  will  play  the  game  of  life  no  worse 
than  their  quite  like-minded  neighbors.  To  be  sure,  they 
desire  them  to  be  charitable,  too,  and  progressive  in  a  way ; 
but  they  scarcely  want  them  to  consecrate  their  lives  to  high 
causes  with  anything  like  the  energy  spent,  let  us  say,  in 
winning  prosperity. 

To  some,  on  the  other  hand,  the  good  life  means  plunging 
into  social  reforms  or  more  radical  enterprises  and  suppos¬ 
ing  that  concern  for  an  improved  inner  life  (whether  in 
oneseK  or  in  the  people  one  is  to  help)  can  be  postponed 
until  the  external  changes  have  all  been  instituted.  Fair¬ 
ness,  modesty,  integrity,  unselfishness,  fine  ethical  insights, 
to  such  a  view  are  either  negligible  or  are  sure  to  be  the 
product  of  material  betterment.  But  important  as  it  is  to 
satisfy  the  hunger  of  men  for  bread  and  for  freedom  from 
needless  anxiety,  their  deepest  need  always  is  to  become  the 
right  kinds  of  person.  Men  go  without  food,  if  necessary, 
in  order  to  serve  great  causes ;  they  go  poor  for  the  sake  of 
science,  art,  country,  or  the  truth  as  they  see  it ;  and  in  so 
doing  they  tell  us  that  there  are  more  grievous  deprivations 
than  to  be  poorly  fed  and  badly  housed.  The  worst  poverty 
in  the  world  is  to  be  of  poor  soul-fiber.  There  must  indeed 
be  far-reaching  changes  in  our  social  structures ;  but  first  of 
all  the  plans  require  high,  living  ideals  of  the  better  beings 
for  whose  sake  the  better  home  is  to  be  erected. 

It  is  because  these  larger  meanings  of  the  ethical  life  are 
slighted  that  so  much  of  our  ordinary  discussion  of  ‘  ‘  educa¬ 
tion”  and  ‘‘character-building”  sounds  hollow.  The  first 
essential  is  ever  new  height,  breadth,  depth  of  vision. 

Our  second  reflection  leads  to  much  the  same  thought. 
When  we  say  that  our  culture  should  make  for  a  better 
democracy,  what  does  “democracy”  mean  to  us,  and  what 
does  it  demand?  Obviously  it  should  signify  much  more 


8 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


than  the  meager  affair  it  is  to  so  many  of  us,  a  convenient 
political  device,  a  system  of  external  arrangements,  equal 
freedom  before  the  law,  equal  chances  for  prosperity,  pop¬ 
ular  elections,  majority  rule  The  need  of  better  personal 
quality  is,  of  course,  assumed,  but  not  as  the  prime  essential. 
Democracy  is  thought  of  as  the  aim,  and  character  as  a 
means  or  safeguard.  Unless,  for  instance,  the  future  citizen 
is  taught  to  be  honest,  our  elections  and  other  public  busi¬ 
ness  will  be  corrupt.  Quite  the  reverse,  however,  should  be 
emphasized  in  the  relationship :  not  that  character  is  to  be 
a  safeguard  to  democracy,  but  that  democracy  itself  is 
worth  while  only  as  it  encourages  the  growth  of  the  highest 
in  human  personality. 

To  this,  when  it  is  pressed,  all  thoughtful  persons  will  no 
doubt  agree.  We  have  no  lack  of  native  idealism  in  America 
and  no  lack  of  faith  in  our  power  to  make  things  better 
if  we  will.  But  we  sh*all  never  make  the  most  of  our  ideals 
of  democracy  until  we  devote  far  more  thinking  than  is  now 
the  rule  to  the  increasingly  nobler  directions  which  these 
ideals  should  indicate.  The  duty  of  improving  upon  even 
our  best  achievement  has  never  before  been  so  exigent.  In 
these  years  when  humanity  is  loaded  with  burdens  of 
unprecedented  seriousness,  democracy  cannot  take  its  supe¬ 
riority  for  granted.  It  must  make  good,  and  with  a  more 
considered  outreaching  toward  the  objects  of  supreme 
importance  for  the  race.  It  must  prove  itself  able  not  only 
to  repair  the  moral  ravages  of  the  latest  world  catastrophe 
and  to  prevent  another,  but  especially  to  supply  a  new  con¬ 
structive  pattern  for  human  intercourse.  To  point  the  way 
to  more  excellent  life  for  the  entire  race  is  democracy’s 
leading  obligation  and  privilege;  and  it  should  be,  not  a 
secondary,  but  the  paramount  concern  of  the  agencies  for 
the  training  of  youth.  Our  schools  have  been  in  the  main 
content  to  follow  other  makers  of  public  opinion  rather 
than  to  lead  vigorously.  They  have  been  too  often  willing 


INTRODUCTION 


9 


to  accept  prevailing  standards  instead  of  courageously 
inspiring  the  new  generation  to  wiser  standards.  They 
have  not  sufficiently  bred  the  spirit  that  would  push  the 
idealistic  motives  implicit  in  democracy  to  expressions  con¬ 
stantly  more  admirable. 

Here  it  is  that  we  shall  find  the  needed  direction  for  our 
educational  efforts.  The  meaning  of  democracy  must  be 
examined  and  reexamined.  In  the  ultimate  implications 
upon  which  we  shall  thus  come,  we  shall  see  a  wealth  of 
ethical  ideals  eminently  fitted  to  give  our  culture  the  focaliz¬ 
ing  force  it  requires.  Tedious  and  academic  as  the  task 
may  seem  at  the  outset,  the  clearest  understanding  of  these 
conceptions  is  imperative.  Their  essentially  ethical  quality 
needs  to  be  kept  in  the  foreground.  ‘  ‘  Citizenship,  ”  “  social 
efficiency,  ’  ’  and  similar  terms  in  the  pedagogy  of  to-day  fail 
to  give  due  prominence  to  our  highest  need — democratic 
personality  conceived  not  as  a  means  to  other  things  but 
as  itself  the  world’s  sublimest  hope.  Not  prosperity  nor 
freedom  from  overt  offending,  not  the  identification  of 
‘‘better”  with  “better  off”  nor  efficiency  in  civic  business, 
nor  even  multiplied  happiness  is  to  be  democracy’s  pride 
and  the  guiding  light  of  her  schooling,  but  the  fullest  and 
deepest  excellence  of  soul  in  all  her  sons  and  daughters. 
Her  jewels,  like  the  Roman  matron’s,  are  to  be  her  noble 
children. 

How  necessary  it  is  to  keep  these  spiritual  objectives 
foremost  we  shall  see  further  if  we  turn  now  to  examine  first 
the  underlying  assumptions  in  such  watchwords  as  freedom 
and  equality.  We  shall  find  that  the  terms  involve  a  regard 
for  certain  fundamental  human  excellences.  The  better 
modes  of  life  suggested  by  these  ethical  implications  of 
democracy  will  give  our  culture  its  worthiest  aim. 


10 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


Questions  and  Problems 

1.  Discuss  the  statement  of  Emerson :  “We  think  our  civilization 
near  its  meridian,  but  we  are  yet  only  at  the  cock-crowing 
and  the  morning.  In  our  barbarous  society,  the  influence 
of  character  is  in  its  infancy.” 

2.  Give  instances  which  show  to-day^s  advance  over  earlier  times 
in  moral  practice.  In  what  directions  must  advance  still  be 
made? 

3.  Refer  to  the  quotation  from  The  Mind  in  the  Making  on 
page  5  of  this  chapter.  Mention  some  of  the  opinions  that 
would  produce  the  effects  which  Professor  Robinson  con¬ 
templates. 

4.  Explain :  “To  be  as  good  as  our  fathers,  we  must  be  better.’^ 

5.  Comment  on  this  utterance  of  General  Wood:  “Do  not  talk 
of  this  as  the  last  great  war.  God  will  have  to  change  human 
nature  before  we  can  discuss  such  a  thing.” 

6.  Why  is  it  that  the  idealisms  of  war  time  fail  to  carry  over 
into  peace?  Compare  the  present  period  with  that  immedi¬ 
ately  following  the  Civil  War. 

7.  Examine  for  a  week  the  most  popular  newspaper  in  your 
community.  What  light  does  its  selection  of  news  throw 
upon  the  interests  of  its  readers? 

8.  Do  you  think  that  the  college  graduates  of  your  acquaintance 
are  more  influenced  by  the  higher  motives  than  other  people? 

9.  Illustrate  how  proficiency  in  school  studies  does  not  in  itself,  ■ 

guarantee  a  high  level  of  character.  ' 

10.  A  picture  showing  the  crowds  at  the  Thanksgiving  Day 
football  game  was  labeled,  “The  Biggest  Educational  Event 
in  America.”  What  criticism  was  implied? 

11.  Explain  why  the  “don’t  smoke,  don’t  drink,  don’t  gamble” 
type  of  exhortation  to  pupils  at  graduation  still  lingers  in 
some  quarters. 

12.  Is  it  a  sufficient  statement  to  say  that  “the  heart  of  reform 
is  the  reform  of  the  heart”? 

13.  To  what  extent  should  you  say  that  schools  of  your  acquaint¬ 
ance  keep  the  highest  aim  foremost?  Are  courses  in  ethics 
all  that  is  needed?  What  are  the  obstacles  with  which  the 
ethical  teaching  of  youth  must  contend? 


INTRODUCTION 


11 


REaPEEENCES 

See,  besides  references  quoted  in  text: 

Addams,  Jane,  Newer  Ideals  of  Teace. 

Adler,  Felix,  The  World  Crisis  and  Its  Meaning. 

Cope,  H.  F.,  Education  for  Democracy. 

CuBBERLEY,  E.  P.,  Changing  Conceptions  of  Education. 
Emerson,  R.  W.,  ^‘Education”  (in  Lectures  and  Biographical 
Sketches) ;  ^‘The  American  Scholar’^  (in  Nature,  Addresses 
and  Lectures)  *,  “The  Fortunes  of  the  Republic”  (in  Mis¬ 
cellanies). 

Erskine,  John,  The  Moral  Obligation  to  Be  Intelligent, 
Henderson,  C.  H.,  The  Children  of  Good  Fortune. 

Hudson,  J.  W.,  The  College  and  the  New  America, 

Martin,  E.  D,,  The  Behavior  of  Crowds. 

Sisson,  E.  0.,  The  Essentials  of  Character. 


1 


PART  I 


THE  ETHICAL  IMPLICATIONS 
OF  DEMOCRACY 


CHAPTER  II 


ETHICAL  USES  OP  FREEDOM 

In  the  days  of  the  French  Revolution,  Edmund  Burke 
declared  that  he  could  no  more  congratulate  the  people  of 
France  on  possessing  liberty  than  he  could  felicitate  them 
on  having  a  government;  but  that  just  as  he  must  know 
what  sort  of  government  they  had,  so  he  would  have  to  be 
informed  of  what  nature  was  the  liberty  they  enjoyed.  His 
demand  is  stiU  in  order.  It  is  certainly  unwise  to  stop  at 
telling  our  future  citizens  that  we  are  free  because  we  make 
our  own  laws  through  elected  representatives.  Everything 
depends  upon  the  uses  to  which  freedom  is  put. 

A  people  may  be  politically  free  in  the  sense  of  having  no 
other  nationality  rule  them,  or  free  in  having  democratic 
institutions,  and  yet  be  sadly  unfree.  They  may  be  chained, 
for  instance,  by  their  own  ignorance,  as  the  negroes  were 
when  the  Emancipation  Proclamation  went  into  effect. 
They  may  be  the  victims  of  poor  leadership  or  of  unin¬ 
formed,  hysterical  public  opinion;  they  may  be  the  dupes 
of  their  own  lazy  substitutes  for  thinking.  Injustice, 
caprice,  untidy  mental  processes  are  by  no  means  bound  to 
go  when  democracy  enters.  Nor  is  there  any  ethical  finality 
about  that  industrial  democracy  to  which  many  persons 
urge  that  our  political  freedom  be  extended.  People  may 
be  quite  free  from  economic  bondage  and  still  remain  little 
better  off  in  the  thing  of  ultimate  value,  a  nobler  quality 
of  life.  Let  us,  therefore,  examine  the  ethical  meanings 
which  alone  justify  the  honor  in  which  freedom  is  rightly 
regarded. 


15 


16 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


We  surely  do  not  want  our  youth  to  believe  that  conduct 
is  made  holy  by  being  “the  will  of  the  people.”  No  will 
is  entitled  to  respect  merely  for  being  a  will,  even  when  it 
is  the  will  of  a  group.  Indeed,  one  of  the  commonest  moral 
failures  throughout  all  history  is  recorded  in  the  frequency 
with  which  groups  or  persons  whose  will  to  freedom  was 
strong  became  oppressors  themselves.  The  Hungarians 
under  Kossuth  asked  the  world’s  support  in  their  fight  for 
liberty  some  seventy-odd  years  ago.  But  they  forced  their 
yoke  on  the  people  of  Transylvania,  a  population  two-thirds 
of  whom  were  Rumanian  with  no  love  for  the  alien  civiliza¬ 
tion  they  were  obliged  to  accept.  Rumania  on  her  side  had 
fought  for  liberty  against  the  Turks,  but  she  was  not  above 
exercising  her  dominion  over  Bulgarians  in  the  Dobrudja. 
Bulgaria  likewise  had  fought  for  liberty,  but  she  imposed  a 
hated  rule  upon  Serbians  and  Greeks  in  Macedonia.  The 
Poles,  who  had  been  persecuted  by  the  Greek  Catholics 
of  Russia,  responded,  not,  as  one  would  expect,  by  casting 
the  spirit  of  unfairness  out  of  their  own  lives,  but  by  bit¬ 
terly  persecuting  the  Greek  Catholic  Ruthenians  and  the 
Jews.  In  the  seventeenth  century,  the  English  Church, 
freed  from  Rome,  oppressed  the  Puritans,  and  the  Puritans 
in  their  turn  harried  the  Quakers. 

Evidently  there  is  a  world  of  difference  between  wanting 
“liberty”  and  “ liberty-f or-myself , ”  the  latter  too  often 
becoming  a  liberty  to  oppress  others.  The  poorer  concep¬ 
tion  is  notoriously  common  in  our  business  life.  The  small 
merchant,  embittered  by  the  trusts,  wants  freedom  to  com¬ 
pete  when  he  himself  is  the  victim  of  monopoly.  But  let 
him  acquire  anything  like  the  same  power  in  his  turn,  and 
unless  he  is  most  unusual,  what  becomes  of  his  former  pleas 
for  liberty  ?  Often  the  hardest  and  meanest  of  slave  drivers 
in  factories  are  the  very  men  who  have  fought  their  way 
up  to  positions  of  authority  from  the  workbenches  where 
they  used  to  talk  freedom. 


ETHICAL  USES  OP  FREEDOM 


17 


Shall  we,  then,  teach  that  liberty  means,  “Go  your  own 
gait,  but  do  not  infringe  upon  the  rights  of  others  ?  ’  ^  This 
has  been  the  leading  maxim  of  American  life,  and  the  harm 
accompanying  the  good  it  has  wrought  should  warn  us.  It 
puts  the  emphasis  upon  self-assertion  and  adds  the  merely 
negative  “without  infringement”  as  at  best  an  after¬ 
thought.  On  this  principle,  the  oppressed  group  is  to  seek 
liberty  for  itself  as  the  first  concern ;  but  since  the  freedom 
sought  is  thus  exclusive,  it  is  no  wonder  that  the  restrain¬ 
ing  clause  is  so  ineffective  in  comparison. 

“A  nation  is  to  assert  itself  and  expand  hut  ... 
which  proposition  is  more  likely  to  be  heeded  ?  ‘  ‘  Make  your 
fortune  hut  .  .  .  which  half  of  the  advice  is  the  more 
appealing,  the  one  that  limits  the  satisfaction  or  the  one 
that  excites  the  desire?  This  laissez-faire  philosophy  of 
ours  has  always  laid  the  heavier  stress  upon  satisfying  the 
natural  thirst,  and  it  has  not  seen  how  relatively  feeble  the 
“don’t-infringe”  qualification  becomes  in  practice.  Small 
wonder  that  American  individualism  has  either  chafed  at 
ethical  restrictions  or  ignored  them  as  it  did  in  the  slave 
holding,  the  child  labor,  the  political  corruption  for  the 
benefit  of  business  interests,  which  have  so  stained  our 
history. 

In  the  second  place,  we  cannot  continue  to  teach  the  ‘  ‘  let- 
things-alone  ”  conception  of  freedom,  because  it  has 
encouraged  social  irresponsibility.  Accepted  in  its  extreme 
form,  it  led  Herbert  Spencer  to  object  that  it  was  a  down¬ 
right  violation  of  individual  freedom  for  the  state  to  tax 
citizens  for  schools,  libraries,  museums,  parks,  etc.  Observe 
the  importance  with  which  the  non-infringement  half  of  the 
formula  is  thus  clothed.  The  function  of  the  state  is 
assumed  to  be  only  that  of  protecting  one  individual  against 
another's  unwarranted  use  of  his  liberty.  Any  positive 
claim  of  the  child  upon  the  community  is  ruled  out.  For 
example,  no  right  of  the  child  is  denied,  says  Spencer,  when 


18 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


the  state  declines  to  provide  schools.  Fortunately,  we  think 
better  to-day. 

There  are  many  persons  in  our  country,  however,  who 
still  hold  in  the  main  to  Spencer’s  view,  even  though  they 
admit  the  need  of  the  state  to  provide  schools  as  a  police 
function,  a  kind  of  added  safeguard  to  life  and  property. 
It  never  seems  to  occur  to  such  persons  that  ‘‘freedom 
within  the  limits  of  non-infringement  ’  ’  can  become  in  prac¬ 
tice  the  most  pitifully  empty  affair.  Without  the  means 
essential  to  the  proper  employment  of  one’s  freedom,  the 
liberty  itself  has  little  or  no  value.  We  might  as  well  tell  a 
crippled  child  that  he  is  free  because  the  law  allows  him 
to  walk  as  he  pleases,  provided  he  does  not  interfere  with 
others.  Legal  freedom  to  use  his  legs  will  not  make  him 
walk.  Our  twenty-five  per  cent  of  illiterates  are  free  under 
the  Constitution  to  buy  books  and  read  them.  Is  this  to  be 
the  last  word  on  their  freedom? 

Only  in  comparatively  recent  years  have  we  waked  up  to 
the  handicaps  under  which  huge  numbers  of  our  popula¬ 
tion  live.^  They  never  will  be  free,  in  the  better  sense  of 
the  word,  until  we  teach  sounder  conceptions  of  freedom  than 
our  “every  man  for  himself  within  the  limits  of  the  law.” 


i“Many  diseases  are  actually  gaining  against  us.  .  .  .  Seventy  per 
cent  or  more  of  any  typical  population  group  is  in  need  of  dental  and 
medical  attention  for  minor  or  serious  ills.  How  many  are  ever 
brought  into  contact  with  corrective  medical  advice  ?  How  many  are 
advised  or  treated  while  the  affection  is  in  its  incipiency  ?  How  many, 
even  when  brought  under  medical  surveillance,  receive  competent  and 
thoroughgoing  advice  or  treatment?  .  .  .  Recent  surveys  have  shown 
that  there  exists  in  normal  communities  three  times  as  much  active 
tuberculosis  as  is  usually  under  observation.  Why  is  it  that  in  most 
communities  twenty  or  thirty  per  cent  of  the  tuberculosis  cases  first 
come  to  the  knowledge  of  the  health  authorities  when  reported  at 
death?  .  .  .  How  many  adults  or  children  in  the  typical  urban  popu¬ 
lation  ever  receive  an  annual  medical  inspection — admittedly  essen¬ 
tial  to  the  detection  of  early  disease  and  to  the  victory  for  health?’* 
Survey^  August  16,  1920,  p.  632.  See  also  Survey^  September  16, 
1920,  p.  707. 


ETHICAL  USES  OP  FREEDOM 


19 


The  highest  kind  of  freedom,  to  anticipate  the  argument  of 
this  chapter,  is  freedom  to  do  one’s  duties.  Positive  freedom 
requires  every  possible  help  toward  the  adequate  perform¬ 
ance  of  this  function.  It  is  in  the  interests  of  the  better 
personality  shaped  by  the  effort  to  do  one’s  duties  that 
children  of  school  age  must  not  be  allowed  to  work  for  a 
‘  living,  that  women  must  not  be  overworked,  that  people 
must  not  be  herded  in  insanitary,  vice-breeding  slums,  and 
that  education,  in  the  best  sense  of  the  word,  is  their  positive 
need.  The  father  who  wishes  to  bring  up  his  children  to  an 
excellent  manhood  and  womanhood  is  not  free  to  do  so  as 
long  as  he  is  obliged  to  rear  them  amid  physical  and  moral 
defilement.  The  conditions  under  which  he  works  and 
resides  must  favor,  not  hinder,  the  performing  of  his  full 
duty  to  his  family  and  his  country. 

All  this  is  overlooked  in  the  non-infringement  tradition 
which  many  schools  and  colleges  unfortunately  continue  to 
hand  on  to  the  young  as  all  that  needs  to  be  said  on  free¬ 
dom.  Its  entire  bearing  is  individualistic.  It  assumes  that 
self-interest  clbecked  by  the  police  power  of  the  state  will 
bring  about  all  necessary  better  life.  We  have  learned  that 
it  does  not.  Evils  occur  which  it  is  impossible  to  ascribe 
to  individual  bad  wills  and  which,  therefore,  little  or  no 
effort  is  made  to  prevent.  It  certainly  is  not  wickedness  or 
a  stony  heart  that  makes  a  man  keep  children  in  his 
employ.  If  he  engages  adults  at  the  higher  wage,  he  cannot 
compete  with  his  rivals  in  states  where  the  employment  of 
children  is  legal.  There  are  many  such  ills  in  our  world 
which  a  sense  of  collective  responsibility  would  wipe  out  or 
prevent. 

One  of  the  gravest  indictments  of  modern  civilization  is 
the  manner  in  which  the  Industrial  Revolution  was  per¬ 
mitted,  on  the  whole,  to  work  itself  out  under  conceptions 
of  liberty  which  encouraged  gross  irresponsibility.  All  of 
the  mighty  transformations  wrought  by  the  use  of  steam 


20 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


and  electricity,  many  undoubtedly  beneficial,  were  allowed 
to  come  without  the  least  collective  effort  to  forestall  their 
worse  by-products.  No  communities  said:  “These  and 
these  tremendous  changes  are  coming.  Let  us  do  our  utmost 
to  prevent  the  human  hurt  which  they  will  bring. The 
things  just  happened  without  plan  and  with  no  sense  of 
personal  or  collective  obligation  for  the  effect  on  person¬ 
ality.  A  recent  tragedy  is  a  striking  illustration.  Since 
1914  the  demand  for  workers  drew  so  many  negroes  into  the 
Northern  industrial  cities  that  in  Chicago,  for  example,  the 
colored  population  was  doubled;  in  that  period  it  rose  to 
125,000.  Nobody,  however,  took  the  trouble  to  provide 
adequate  housing  for  this  increased  tenantry.  It  spread 
over  into  the  white  neighborhoods,  and  the  bad  blood  which 
usually  follows  upon  such  frictions  led  to  riot  and 
slaughter.^  It  was  nobody  ^s  concern  to  forestall  this  con¬ 
gestion.  The  private  initiative  to  which  most  of  such  affairs 
are  still  entrusted  was  quite  content  to  let  things  alone  in 
view  of  the  higher  rentals  it  was  able  to  wring  from  the 
overcrowding.  The  incident  is  typical.  Our  slums,  our 
constant  strikes,  our  passing  of  protective  laws  only  after 
the  mischief  already  done  has  become  too  glaring,  are  by¬ 
products  of  our  “good-enough,’^  “let-us-alone”  policies. 
It  took  the  recent  war  to  shake  many  a  community  into  the 
barest  realization  that  neither  “enlightened  self-interest” 
nor  “self-interest  without  infringement”  could  be  trusted 
to  handle  problems  which  call  for  a  more  pointedly  cooper¬ 
ative  formula. 

All  in  all,  no  conception  of  freedom  will  carry  the  new 
generation  very  far,  if  we  teach  it  tO'Hhink  of  freedom  as 
merely  something  which  must  not  be  misused.  A  more 
affirmative  content  is  required. 

This  is  offered  in  the  ethical  definition  of  freedom:  “such 

*  The  'Negro  in  Chicago,  A  Study  of  Race  Relatione  cwd  a  Rao4 
Riot  (University  of  Chicago  Press). 


ETHICAL  USES  OF  FREEDOM 


21 


a  release  of  the  best  in  others  as  releases  the  best  in  our¬ 
selves.’^  Our  crying  need  to-day  is  to  recognize  explicitly 
that  no  souls  are  saved  alone  but  that  we  rise  or  fall  as 
moral  personalities  with  the  help  or  the  hindrance  we  offer 
to  the  upward  climb  of  others.  Better,  therefore,  than 
letting  people  alone  is  the  ideal  which  looks  upon  them  as 
fellow-pilgrims  requiring  from  us  the  utmost  help  we  can 
give  toward  playing  their  part  in  the  one  great  task  of  the 
human  race — to  get  ahead  of  itself  as  a  whole  and  to  pass 
on  to  endlessly  fairer  forms  of  human  excellence.  With  a 
picture  before  our  eyes  of  the  persons  that  men  and  women 
might  be  in  a  society  truly  civilized,  we  should  ask,  ‘  ‘  How 
can  we  make  our  contacts  aid  one  another  to  develop  these 
worthier  types?” 

Under  the  guidance  of  such  an  ideal,  the  content  of  our 
present  liberties,  political,  civil,  religious,  would  be  greatly 
enriched.  For  one  thing,  the  accent  would  be  shifted  from 
the  desire  to  enjoy  privileges  to  the  desire  to  fulfil  duties 
more  ably.  Political  liberty  is  to  be  cherished  for  the 
chance  it  affords  the  common  man  to  share,  to  the  full 
extent  of  his  special  powers,  the  task  of  improving  the 
relationships  in  which  he  lives.  Under  the  regime  of  the 
Czar,  when  talented  patriotic  persons  wished  to  offer  their 
gifts  to  the  Russian  people,  they  were  silenced  or  packed  off 
to  Siberia.  A  true  democracy  welcomes  the  offerings  of  the 
least  of  its  sons  and  daughters,  and  especially  does  it  wel¬ 
come  their  contributions  to  the  deciding  of  what  the  collec¬ 
tive  purposes  shall  be.  The  object  of  greatest  value  in 
the  process  is  the  stimulus  it  offers  to  spiritual  growth.  A 
benevolent  despot  can  give  his  people  everything  but  the 
one  thing  of  chief  importance — the  chance  for  mental 
and  spiritual  enlargement,  for  developing  the  best  in  mind 
and  heart  by  voluntary  efforts  to  bring  about  right 
relations. 


22 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


Such  a  conception  puts  where  it  belongs  the  supreme  im¬ 
portance  of  training  in  character.  It  requires,  of  course,  a 
training  in  self-restraint.  Instead  of  opposing  self-control  to 
self-expression,  it  makes  the  former  an  indispensable  means 
to  the  latter.  In  these  days  of  intellectual  unrest,  grave 
mischief  is  being  done  by  those  catchwords  which  exalt 
‘ '  self-expression  ’  ^  over  self-discipline  as  if  the  two  were 
antagonistic  and  the  former  alone  were  worth  cultivating. 
The  attraction  of  such  appeals  for  our  youth  lies  in  their 
protest  against  the  many  cruelties  and  tyrannies  inflicted 
by  the  restraints  of  former  days.  But  these  teachings 
encourage  evil  also — ^slavery  to  caprice  and  passion,  the 
tyranny  of  the  animal  in  man  over  the  essentially  human. 
Is  it  self-expression  to  yield  to  the  insistence  of  the 
mementos  desire,  or  is  it  self-expression  to  resist  that 
tyranny  in  the  interests  of  the  self  which  can  look  before 
and  after?  Perhaps  the  mistake  has  been  that  we  have 
preached  self-restraint  as  somehow  desirable  for  its  own 
sake,  which  it  certainly  is  not.  A  sounder  teaching  would 
put  forward  as  a  motive  the  expression  of  personality  (as 
distinguished  from  the  egotism  intent  on  its  own  ^ ^individ¬ 
uality”)^  and  show  how  personality  is  as  little  possible 
without  self-discipline  as  the  proficiency  of  the  musician  or 
athlete  without  severe  courses  in  training. 

In  an  ideal  democracy,  this  development  of  personality 
in  each  is  encouraged  by  the  free  cooperation  of  all.  The 
penal  law,  however,  is  still  required  at  our  present  stage  of 
evolution  to  remind  all  the  community,  and  especially  the 
weaker  persons  in  it,  that  we  live  in  societies.  There  are 
those  who  need  little,  if  any,  of  such  assistance  from  the 
laws,  and  there  are  those  whom  no  laws,  howsoever  strict, 
deter.  In  between,  however,  are  multitudes  whom  the  exist¬ 
ence  of  the  laws  helps,  at  least  in  part,  to  impose  upon 
themselves  restraints  which  they  might  otherwise  be  less 


3  See  pp.  40,  45,  68. 


ETHICAL  USES  OF  FREEDOM 


23 


ready  to  practice.  Obedience  to  the  law  is  thus  a  prime 
requisite  in  ethical  training. 

In  this  connection,  we  must  acknowledge  to  ourselves  and 
to  our  students  that  we  can  be  a  more  genuinely  law-abid¬ 
ing  people  than  we  like  to  fancy  we  are.  This  refers  not 
so  much  to  the  light-hearted  way  in  which  we  pass  laws  and 
then  flout  them,  nor  yet  to  the  fact  that  in  the  world’s 
record  for  homicides  and  robberies,  we  hold  the  dubious 
honor  of  showing  the  largest  percentage,  but  to  the  fact  that 
so  much  of  our  law-breaking  is  done  by  persons  who  are 
held  to  be  quite  respectable.  In  1913  and  1914,  for  example, 
there  was  a  labor  outbreak  in  Colorado  in  the  course  of 
which  shots  were  exchanged  on  both  sides,  homes  were 
burned,  and  even  women  and  children  were  killed.  It  was 
only  after  blood  had  been  spilled  that  a  dazed  public 
opinion  learned  that  for  years  the  mine-owners  had  openly 
violated  state  laws  forbidding  the  very  practices  against 
which  the  workers  had  risen 

Our  lynchings  and  other  resorts  to  mob  violence  are 
another  national  disgrace.  The  evil  would  be  easier  to  cope 
with  if  it  were  the  conduct  only  of  the  disreputable.  But 
in  most  of  our  expressions  of  mob  spirit,  whether  directed 
against  negroes  or  against  whites  holding  unpopular  opin¬ 
ions  on  economics  or  politics,  the  sad  fact  is  that  these 
violators  of  the  law  are  counted  ‘‘good”  citizens.  As  Pro¬ 
fessor  Commons  put  it,  “By  a  queer  inversion  of  thought, 
a  crime  committed  jointly  by  many  is  [deemed]  not  a  crime 
but  a  vindication  of  justice,  just  as  a  crime  committed  by 
authority  of  a  nation  is  not  a  crime  but  a  virtue.  ’  ’  ®  The 

4  See  ‘‘Report  of  Commission  on  Industrial  Relations”  ( Government 
Printing  Office,  1916),  Vols.  VII  and  VIII. 

8  John  R.  Commons,  Immigrants  and  Races  in  America,  p.  174.  See 
pp.  174-176  for  list  of  these  violations  prior  to  1907,  when  the  book 
was  written.  Since  then  the  clash  of  conservative  and  radical  opinions 
has  increased  the  occasions  for  such  outrages.  For  more  recent  in¬ 
stances,  see  Zechariah  Chafee,  Jr.,  Freedom  of  Speech. 


24 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


passing  of  more  drastic  laws  will  not  help  us  much.  Our 
chief  weapon  must  be  the  creation  of  a  new  spirit.  Schools, 
churches,  papers  everywhere  must  teach  that  lawlessness  is 
not  at  all  disinfected  by  being  collective  or  by  proclaiming 
itself  an  agency  of  justice.  The  self-restraint  essential  to 
genuine  freedom  is  particularly  needed  at  those  times  when 
it  is  easiest  to  assert  some  “ moral’ ^  sanction  for  letting 
one’s  self  go. 

Free  institutions  require  also  an  unflagging  public  spirit, 
and,  at  the  same  time,  they  can  do  much  to  promote  it.  It 
is  commonly  assumed  that  free  citizens  will  be  more  keenly 
concerned  in  the  understanding  of  public  affairs  and  in 
taking  an  active  part  in  shaping  them  than  the  subjects  of 
autocrats.  Such  an  interest  is  apt  to  be  true,  however,  only 
where  the  freedom  is  relatively  new.  Carl  Schurz  tells  in  his 
Reminiscences  how  he  noticed  in  farmers  who  had  emi¬ 
grated  to  America  from  Germany  in  the  ’fifties  and  ’six¬ 
ties,  a  decided  broadening  of  mental  horizon  due  to  the 
wish  to  make  the  best  use  of  their  new  freedom.  But  men ’s 
interest  in  public  affairs  tends  rather  to  diminish  as  they 
grow  accustomed  to  their  liberties  and  as  the  contrast  with 
the  former  subjection  fades.  This  is  one  of  the  outstanding 
facts  which  Viscount  Bryce  is  compelled  to  note  many 
times  in  his  survey  of  modern  democracies.®  Over  and 
again  he  points  out  how  people  seem  to  choose  to  be  ‘^well- 
governed  rather  than  self -governed.  ”  That  is,  so  long  as 
their  immediate  liberties  are  not  too  palpably  infringed 
upon,  they  seem  inclined  to  be  quite  satisfied  to  leave  public 
affairs  entirely  in  the  hands  of  the  few. 

The  mischief  lies  less  in  the  harm  which  a  governing 
oligarchy  can  do  than  in  the  deplorable  wasting  of  the  great 
opportunity  offered  by  self-government,  the  moral  value 
in  the  practice  of  civic  responsibility.  Political  freedom  is 
precious  for  the  chance  it  offers  to  learn  by  such  practice 


James  Bryce,  Modern  Democracies,  Vol.  II,  pp.  341,  546 


ETHICAL  USES  OP  FREEDOM 


25 


the  meaning  of  ethical  interdependence.  It  is  a  pity  that 
so  many  fail  to  nse  the  opportunity  and  let  their  freedom 
mean  no  more  than  the  hasty  casting  of  a  ballot  once  a 
year,  when  the  issue  is  sufficiently  exciting ! 

What  education  can  do  to  lay  the  foundations  of  public 
spirit  is  indicated  in  succeeding  chapters.  One  special  task 
it  can  certainly  set  itself :  It  can  try  to  teach  our  future 
citizens  the  duty  of  forming  intelligent  judgments  and — it 
is  no  anti-climax — the  obligation  to  read  newspapers 
sensibly.  Almost  a  century  ago,  De  Tocqueville  wondered 
how  a  voting  public  was  ever  going  to  get  the  inform 
mation  needed  to  reach  correct  judgments:  ^‘Long  and 
patient  observation  ...  is  required  to  form  a  just  esti¬ 
mate  of  the  character  of  a  single  individual ;  and  can  it  be 
supposed  that  the  vulgar  have  the  power  of  succeeding  in 
an  inquiry  which  misleads  the  penetration  of  genius 
itself  ?  ’  ^  To-day  the  task  of  the  voter  is  harder  than  it 
was  then.  Not  only  must  he  pass  judgment  on  men  and 
measures  within  our  own  borders,  but  he  also  must  know 
what  is  going  on  in  that  outside  world  from  which  America 
has  now  ceased  to  be  isolated.  Public  spirit  to-day  includes 
the  duty  of  understanding  international  problems.  Behind 
the  jest  of  the  public  official  who  said,  ‘‘A  year  ago  I  did 
not  know  whether  the  Ukraine  was  a  country  or  a  musical 
instrument,^’  lies  a  truth  of  exceedingly  sober  import  for 
millions  of  us.  A  country  is  not  free  when  its  judgments 
are  recorded  in  ignorance.  It  is  not  self-governing  when  it 
is  misled  by  newspapers  which  either  deliberately  suppress 
or  distort  news,  or  else  innocently  convey  misleading 
impressions  by  the  undue  prominence  given  to  news  of 
scandals,  murders,  athletic  contests  and  the  trivialities  of 
ward  politics  and  high  ‘  ‘  society.  ’  ’  ® 


7  Democracy  in  America,  Vol.  I,  p.  215. 

8  See  Walter  Lippman,  Public  Opinion,  p.  174:  “[Our]  troubles  go 
back  ...  to  the  failure  of  self-governing  people  to  transcend  their 


26 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


Not  the  least  essential  is  the  self-discipline  needed  to  be 
fair  to  views  or  personalities  uncongenial  to  our  own  in  a 
country  where,  for  instance,  the  race  problem  is  so  grave, 
and  where  new  cleavages  of  opinion  are  creating  new  dis¬ 
turbances.  Toleration  and  the  more  admirable  virtue  of 
positive  appreciation  are  not  gifts  with  which  we  are  born. 
They  must  be  acquired  in  the  sweat  of  constant  effort  inces¬ 
santly  renewed.  On  the  side  of  prejudice  and  intolerance 
fight  many  an  animal  instinct  and  many  an  unworthy 
acquisition  in  our  social  heritage.  On  the  other  side,  aU 
the  harder  battle  must  be  waged  by  the  relatively  newer 
forces  of  moral  insight,  respect  for  differences,  and  disin¬ 
terested  love  of  truth  and  fair  play.® 

That  our  country  is  capable  of  summoning  the  moral 
resources  we  need  in  order  rightly  to  govern  ourselves  few 
will  deny.  Our  educational  institutions  must  lead  by  a 


casual  experience  and  their  prejudice  by  inventing,  creating,  and 
organizing  a  machinery  of  knowledge.  .  .  .  Governments,  schools, 
newspapers,  churches  make  .  .  .  small  headway  against  .  .  .  violent 
prejudice,  apathy,  preference  for  the  curious  trivial  as  against 
the  dull  important,  and  the  hunger  for  sideshows  and  three-legged 
calves.” 

9  In  the  case  of  the  negro,  to  mention  but  one  instance,  all  help 
should  be  offered  to  those  public-spirited  whites  and  blacks  in  the 
South  who  are  trying  to  establish  right  relations  between  the  two 
races.  These  words  by  a  negro  poet  put  a  question  which  no  citizen 
anywhere  dares  ignore; 

“How  would  you  like  to  have  us,  as  we  are? 

Or  sinking  ’neath  the  load  we  bear? 

Our  eyes  fixed  forward  on  a  star 
Or  gazing  empty  in  despair? 

Rising  or  falling?  Men  or  things? 

With  dragging  pace  or  footsteps  fleet? 

Strong,  willing  sinews  in  your  wings? 

Or  tightening  chains  about  your  feet?” 

“A  Negro  to  America,”  from  Fifty  Tears  and  Other  Poems,  by  J,  W. 
Johnson. 


ETHICAL  USES  OP  FREEDOM 


27 


better  teaching  of  freedom  than  heretofore.  They  can  give 
practice  in  self-government.  They  can  teach  in  other 
ways  right  attitudes  toward  those  who  differ.  History, 
geography,  civics,  literature,  ethics,  can  all  be  drawn  upon 
to  show  how  freedom  requires  respect  for  both  majority  and 
minority.  The  impatient  need  to  be  warned  against  dis- 
heartenment  at  the  slowness  or  the  rejection  with  which 
ideas  radiantly  clear  to  themselves  are  greeted  by  their 
fellow  men.  What  a  madhouse  the  world  would  be  if  every¬ 
one  who  has  a  plan  of  reform  had  the  power  to  carry  out 
his  scheme  as  quickly  as  he  wished!  The  only  justifica¬ 
tion  for  giving  your  plan  the  right  of  way  over  the  hundred 
others  proposed  by  their  own  equally  ardent  advocates  is 
that  yours  is  better.  But  we  cannot  discover  this  fact  if 
each  of  the  hundred  conflicting  schemes  receives  the  instant 
enactment  that  its  champions  desire.  Those  who  are  impa¬ 
tient  at  the  slowness  required  to  sift  proposals  and  to  per¬ 
suade  a  sufficient  number  to  that  genuine  conviction  without 
which  laws  can  never  be  executed,  must  name  a  better  way, 
if  they  can,  to  make  freedom  bear  fruit  of  justice. 

At  the  same  time,  there  is  a  need  to  which  our  country 
is  by  no  means  fully  awake,  the  need  of  that  respect  for 
minorities  to  which  reference  has  already  been  made.  There 
never  yet  was  a  single  worth-while  achievement  of  the 
human  race  which  did  not  begin  with  some  minority  person 
or  group.  The  very  freedom  on  which  we  pride  ourselves 
to-day  goes  back  to  the  work  of  minority  dissenters  whose 
courage  and  persistence  we  are  all  more  prone  to  praise 
than  to  imitate.  When  we  ourselves  are  comfortable,  it 
is  hard  to  see  why  others  should  not  be  equally  contented 
with  things  as  they  are.  Like  the  A  ^henians  whom  Socrates 
sought  to  prod  into  an  open-eyed  understanding  of  the 
‘‘justice’^  they  so  easily  talked  about,  we  fail  many  times 
to  appreciate  the  worth  in  critics  whose  frankness  hurts 
our  mental  ease  or  our  pride.  ‘  ‘  Somebody  to  ask  disagree- 


28 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


able  questions  and  to  utter  uncomfortable  truths,*^  as 
Lowell  put  it,  is  always  needed  to  make  us  all  reexamine 
and  thereby  improve  our  heritage  of  freedom.  Perhaps 
no  community  to-day  will  allow  its  Socrates  to  tell  it  that 
he  deserves  to  be  rewarded  by  maintenance  at  public 
expense,  but  our  schools  and  colleges  can  do  vastly  more 
than  they  have  done  to  place  the  function  of  the  social 
gadfly  in  its  true  light.  It  is  only  as  men  learn  to  respect 
those  who  differ  from  themselves  that  they  can  prove  them¬ 
selves  worthy  of  democratic  citizenship.  The  ideal  of  free¬ 
dom  is  the  fullest  interplay  of  excellences,  and  especially 
be  it  remembered,  of  excellences  which  are  distinctive. 

\ 

These  are  some  of  the  ethical  implications  of  freedom 
which  a  democratic  education  should  continually  seek  to 
clarify.  The  finer  the  types  of  human  relationship  we  see 
that  freedom  can  encourage,  the  more  highly  shall  we  prize 
the  gift  and  want  to  improve  it. 

In  the  strictest  sense,  no  person,  no  group,  is  ever  free. 
The  absolutely  unfettered  expression  of  one^s  unique  per¬ 
sonality  is  impossible  to  creatures  of  flesh  and  blood.  We 
are  limited  by  our  temperament,  physique,  age,  sex,  race, 
by  all  sorts  of  biological  traits  and  environing  conditions. 
Why  then  speak  of  freedom  at  all?  For  the  same  reason 
that  we  speak  of  other  ideals.  Impossible  as  it  is  to  reach 
them,  the  grandeur  of  a  life  lies  in  the  measure  to  which 
their  light  gleams  through  it.  Under  their  leading  we  see 
where  it  is  best  that  our  faces  be  turned.  The  better  the 
use  we  make  of  our  various  freedoms,  the  better  we  learn 
the  nature  of  that  highest  type  of  give  and  take  in  which 
each  life  encourages  every  other  to  express  its  most  dis¬ 
tinctive  powers.  The  freedom  which  is  most  worth  prizing 

I 

and  which  dignifies  the  struggles  of  men  to  achieve  and 
to  improve  political  liberty  or  civil  or  religious  liberty,  is 
this  ever  finer  process  of  reciprocal  release. 


ETHICAL  USES  OF  FREEDOM 


29 


These  spiritual  claims  are  denied  to-day  by  those  who 
insist  upon  the  likeness  of  man  to  the  rest  of  creation  and 
who  often,  without  seeming  to  be  aware  of  the  fact,  con¬ 
demn  man  to  fatalism,  ruling  out  the  creative  possibil¬ 
ities  without  which  a  real  progress  can  never  exist.  The 
truth  is  forgotten  that  only  on  one  side  of  his  being  is 
man  ^s  life  shaped  by  the  forces  affecting  all  natural  things. 
He  is  also  capable  of  asserting  citizenship  in  a  world  where 
another  rule  obtains.  In  the  one  realm,  we  are  indeed 
fellow  members  with  trees  and  stones  and  stars.  In  that 
world,  the  law  is  that  a  given  set  of  causes  can  always 
be  counted  upon  to  produce  a  given  set  of  consequences. 
If  a  tree  falls  to  the  ground,  we  can  trace  the  act  back  to 
its  causes  in  the  loosening  of  the  ground  by  rain,  the 
velocity  of  winds,  due,  in  turn,  to  such  and  such  other 
natural  antecedents.  Human  conduct  can  be  explained 
in  the  same  way,  but  with  the  all-important  difference 
that  the  explanation  is  radically  incomplete. 

It  is  only  on  one  side  of  his  make-up  that  man  comes 
under  the  rule  of  the  natural  order.  Although  his  mis¬ 
deeds  can  be  traced  back  to  his  physical  constitution,  the 
nerves  which  he  has  inherited,  his  schooling,  and  other 
influences  in  his  environment,  this  application  of  the  law 
which  holds  for  natural  objects  does  not  explain  him 
as  fully  as  it  can  explain  the  happenings  in  things.  He 
is  capable  of  responding  to  a  law  of  a  wholly  different  kind, 
the  law,  namely,  of  being  governed,  not  by  what  has  gone 
before,  but  by  what  he  knows  ought  to  he.  A  man  can 
frame  an  image  of  what  he  never  was  but  knows  he  should 
become,  and,  under  the  prompting  of  that  ideal,  he  can  hold 
himself  to  account  for  better  conduct  than  he  has  yet  dis¬ 
played.  He  is  capable  of  being  ruled,  not  only  by  causes, 
but  by  ends,  and  by  ends  that  are  better  than  the  projec¬ 
tion  of  such  desires  as  he  shares  with  the  animal  world. 
Whether,  in  particular  instances,  he  will  respond  to  the 


30 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


call  of  such  ends,  he  can  tell  only  after  he  has  tried.  The 
way  to  prove  the  capacity  for  such  freedom  is  to  try  to 
exercise  it,  and  then  to  try  again  without  cease. 

Witness  to  the  reality  of  this  higher  nature  is  home 
every  day.  Condorcet  in  the  shadow  of  the  guillotine 
busying  himself  on  a  sketch  of  the  future  progress  of 
the  human  race;  Spinoza  putting  by  the  offer  of  the 
prince  in  order  to  preserve  his  intellectual  freedom ; 
Robert  Louis  Stevenson,  racked  by  tuberculosis,  yet  send¬ 
ing  out  his  brave  words  to  weaker  fellow  mortals;  Louis 
Pasteur,  stricken  with  paralysis,  but  forcing  himself  to 
dictate  notes  on  his  scientific  findings — these,  and  all  others 
who  rise  above  the  impulses  natural  enough  to  beings  of 
clay,  in  order  to  assert  the  worthier  human  promptings, 
illustrate,  if  only  in  limited  measure,  what  freedom  at  its 
best  can  mean.  To  help  all  men  release  in  themselves 
that  which  liberates  the  highest  life  in  their  fellow  beings 
is  the  aim  that  makes  our  external  freedoms  worth  devel¬ 
oping. 

Questions  and  Problems 

1.  It  has  been  said  that  most  men  dread  freedom  because  it 
implies  responsibility.  What  is  the  good  in  shouldering 
responsibility? 

2.  Read  Wordsworth^s  ‘^Ode  to  Duty”  and  his  “Character  of 
the  Happy  Warrior.”  Comment  on  the  ideal  of  freedom. 

3.  Would  you  consider  a  happy  hermit  as  necessarily  more 
“free”  than  a  citizen  in  an  American  community? 

4.  Explain  Goethe^s  sentence,  “He  alone  is  worthy  of  freedom, 
as  of  life,  who  wins  it  for  himself  each  day.” 

5.  Show  the  relation  of  freedom  and  law  in  the  rejoicing  of 
the  Psalmist:  “Thy  statutes  have  been  my  songs  in  the 
house  of  my  pilgrimage.” 

6.  Can  you  explain  why  America  is  more  given  to  lynch  law 
and  to  suppression  of  minority  opinion  than  Europe? 

7.  Give  instances  where  men  and  women  have  benefited  mankind 
by  their  ideas  but  were  intensely  disliked  by  contemporaries. 

8.  Read  H.  H.  Goddard^s  Juvenile  Delinquency  and  show  how 


ETHICAL  USES  OF  FREEDOM 


31 


the  cases  there  listed  can  be  traced  back  to  social  negligence. 
Report  on  conditions  in  your  own  community  and  also  on 
the  forces  at  work  in  behalf  of  better  conditions. 

9.  What  can  the  schools  do  to  carry  out  such  recommendations 
as  those  in  the  report  of  the  Chicago  Commission  on  Race 
Relations?  (See  “References.”) 

10.  “Food,  clothing,  shelter  are  but  a  scaffolding  on  which  the 
nobler  house  of  the  soul  is  to  bQ>  reared.”  Show  why  it  is 
necessary  for  social  reform  to  keep  this  fact  in  the  fore¬ 
ground. 

References 

See,  besides  references  quoted  in  text: 

Adams,  Henry,  The  Degradation  of  the  Democratic  Dogma. 

Bryce,  James,  American  Commonwealth. 

Lippman,  Walter,  Drift  or  Mastery. 

Lowell,  J.  R.,  Democracy. 

Mangold,  G.  B.,  Problems  of  Child  Welfare. 

Mecklin,  J.  M.,*  Introduction  to  Social  Ethics,  Part  I. 

“The  Negro  in  Chicago :  A  Study  of  Race  Relations  and  a  Race 
Riot,”  Chicago  Commission  on  Race  Relations. 

“Public  Opinion  and  the  Steel  Strike,”  Report  of  Interchurch 
Commission. 

“Report  of  Commission  on  Industrial  Relations”  (Government 
Printing  Office,  1916),  Vol.  I,  pp.  92-100. 

Shafer,  Robert,  Progress  and  Science,  Ch.  VI. 

Smith,  J.  A.,  The  Spirit  of  American  Government,  Ch.  XI,  XII. 

Tufts,  J.  H.,  Our  Democracy :  Its  Origins  and  Its  Tasks. 

Turner,  F.  J.,  The  Frontier  in  American  History. 


CHAPTER  Iir 


THE  MEANING  OP  EQUALITY 

In  what  sense  can  people  be  said  to  be  equal?  Like 
‘‘freedom/’  the  word  “equality”  also  requires  an  under¬ 
standing  of  its  ethical  presuppositions.  The  negative 
meanings  of  the  term  are  usually  understood  with  greater 
clearness  than  the  affirmative.  The  reason  is  that  in  the 
beginnings  of  our  national  history,  ‘  ‘  equality  ’  ’  provided  an 
object  on  which  men  could  unite  against  something  wrong. 
The  idea,  however,  has  been  less  useful  and,  in  some 
respects,  even  harmful,  as  an  affirmative  principle.  Citizens 
of  a  democracy,  to-day’s  and  to-morrow’s,  have  every  need 
to  understand  both  these  consequences  of  a  cherished  doc¬ 
trine. 

Its  practical  importance  arose  from  its  utility  as  a  rally¬ 
ing  cry  against  the  aristocratic  idea  of  a  divine  right  to 
rule.  Thus  it  summoned  the  French  in  1789  against 
oppression  from  the  nobility.  It  served  a  similar  purpose 
in  America  where  relief  was  sought  from  the  unjust  impo¬ 
sitions  of  the  ruling  classes  in  England.  The  idea  is  true 
enough  when  it  means  that  no  class  is  entitled  to  exploit 
other  men  or  even  to  rule  unwilling  subjects  for  their  own 
good.  “No  man  is  good  enough  to  rule  another  man  with¬ 
out  that  man’s  consent.”  In  this  sense  of  protest  against 
exploitation,  the  ideals  of  equality  have  found  a  deserved 
place  in  the  tradition  of  modern  civilized  society.  But  our 
democracy  has  by  no  means  cared  to  examine  what  the 
doctrine  means  on  its  positive  side.  Once  an  unjust  domin¬ 
ion  has  been  removed,  are  the  former  victims  still  equal? 

32 


THE  MEANING  OF  EQUALITY  33 

If  so,  in  what  sense?  Imagine  a  train  to  he  held  up  by 
highwaymen.  Some  of  the  passengers  are  highly  intelli¬ 
gent,  others  are  stupid ;  some  are  old,  some  are  young ;  some 
are  business  men,  some  artists,  some  scientists,  some 
swindlers,  and  a  few,  let  us  permit  ourselves  to  fancy,  are 
saints.  Nobody  would  deny  that  these  diverse  types  are  for 
the  time  being  all  alike  in  their  just  desire'  to  escape  robbery. 
Suppose,  however,  the  highwaymen  are  beaten  off.  Will  it 
do  to  continue  thinking  of  the  passengers  as  equals  ?  If  so, 
in  what  does  this  positive  equality  consist  ? 

The  loose,  uncritical  acceptance  of  equality  as  an  affirm¬ 
ative  principle  works  harm  enough.  It  is  inconsistent  with 
the  idea  of  liberty  unless  there  is  some  guarantee  that  no 
one  will  use  his  freedom  and  his  equality  to  work  hurt. 
Where  all  start  alike  and  unfettered,  the  stronger  come  to 
dominate.  They  may  overrule  and  even  crush  the  weaker. 
They  may  reach  a  position  of  privilege  which  obstructs  the 
efforts  of  other  groups  to  rise. 

This  is  what  has  happened  in  our  economic  life.  We 
began  as  a  nation  of  small  farmers,  small  merchants,  more 
or  less  on  an  equal  footing.  It  was  taken  for  granted  that 
if  all  men  began  equal  in  the  race  for  prosperity,  with  no 
artificial  privileges,  only  natural  fitness  would  assure  final 
success.  If  a  man  found  conditions  undesirable,  there  was 
plenty  of  free  land  to  which  he  could  move.  The  theory 
reflecting  this  state  of  affairs  still  rules  the  thinking  of  the 
majority  to-day  and  is  still  taught  to  the  young,  even 
though  in  practice  it  has  resulted  in  perpetuating  grave 
inequality.  The  free  lands  have  been  taken  up.  No  emi¬ 
grant  from  the  East  to  an  unoccupied  domain  in  the  West 
can  count  himself  the  equal  of  a  lumber  king  or  of  the  rail¬ 
road  owning  many  square  miles  of  territory.  Nor  can  the 
individual  coal  miner,  one  in  thousands  employed  by  an 
operating  company,  bargain  on  equal  terms  with  the  oper¬ 
ators,  The  failure  to  grasp  this  point  has  made  America 


34 


EDUCATION  FOE.  MORAL  GROWTH 


much  slower  to  recognize  the  labor  union  than  Europe  has 
been.  In  Europe  the  fiction  of  equality  has  played  no  such 
disturbing  part.  Over  here,  it  has  embittered  our  indus¬ 
trial  quarrels  and  put  huge  obstacles  in  the  way  of  progress 
to  better  relations.^ 

We  are  learning  to-day  that  the  doctrine  of  equality  as 
a  protection  in  the  law  court  is  likewise  untrue  to  the  facts. 
We  have  acted  on  the  assumption  that  the  one  who  suffers 
a  grievance  could  stand  on  equal  terms  in  court  with  the 
one  who  had  done  him  wrong.  But  a  bulletin  entitled 
“Justice  to  the  Poor,”  issued  in  1919  by  the  Carnegie 
Foundation  for  the  Advancement  of  Teaching,  declares: 
“The  traditional  method  of  providing  justice  has  operated 
to  close  the  doors  of  the  courts  to  the  poor  and  has  caused 
a  gross  denial  of  justice  ...  to  millions  of  persons.  For 
instance,  many  thousands  of  men  have  been  unable  to  col¬ 
lect  their  wages  honestly  earned.”  The  existence  of  char¬ 
itable  legal-aid  societies  is  cited  as  evidence  that  outside 
help  has  been  required  to  obtain  just  administration  of  the 
law.  No  such  charity  would  be  needed  if  the  equality  were 
a  fact.  If  one  party  to  a  suit  is  poorer,  he  is  less  able  to 
wait  during  the  long  delays  so  frequent  in  our  court  pro¬ 
cedures  or  to  print  appeals  or  engage  more  expert  counsel. 

The  new  generation  must  not  be  brought  up  on  concep¬ 
tions  which  no  longer  fit  the  facts.  Our  failure  to  ask 
precisely  what  equality  should  mean  has  already  left  too 

1  We  hear  it  said  sometimes,  for  example,  that  equality  requires 
that  if  a  workingman  is  to  be  free  to  quit  work  whenever  he  thinks 
best,  his  employer,  therefore,  possesses  the  unrestricted  right  to  dis¬ 
charge  him  at  pleasure.  This  might  have  been  true  in  the  days  when 
the  individual  worker  and  the  individual  employer  stood  on  relatively 
much  the  same  footing.  Is  it  true,  however,  to-day?  When  the  head 
of  the  Steel  Trust,  for  example,  discharges  a  worker,  does  the  master 
face  anything  like  the  hardship  encountered  by  the  man?  Do  the 
stockholders  have  to  forego  a  meal  a  day,  or  move  into  cheaper  resi¬ 
dences,  or  cut  short  the  schooling  of  their  children,  as  the  worker 
often  must,  when  he  is  out  of  a  job? 


THE  MEANING  OF  EQUALITY  35 

many  a  hurtful  impress.  Consider  how  our  very  schooling 
has  been  harmed.  The  idea  of  equal  opportunity  for  every¬ 
body  was  taken  to  mean  that  all  the  pupils  must  be  treated 
alike.  In  every  school,  in  a  given  city,  every  boy  and  girl 
must  have  the  same  subjects  to  learn,  with  exactly  the  same 
time  allotted  to  each  and  in  general  the  same  method  of 
instruction.  Equality  of  opportunity  was  interpreted  to 
mean  absolute  sameness.  And  the  results  seemed  at  first 
to  warrant  this  interpretation  as  sound.  All  the  boys  and 
girls  enjoyed  an  identical  chance.  If  anyone  failed  to  put 
it  to  its  best  use,  whose  was  the  fault  but  his  own?  The 
system  was  justified  by  the  thousands  of  graduates  who 
had  won  respect  as  lawyers,  merchants,  or  statesmen. 

Gradually,  however,  disturbing  questions  came  to  be 
framed:  ^‘Is  this  precious  privilege,  which  we  assume  to 
be  coming  to  all,  really  entering  their  lives  ?  Our  President 
Garfields  were  indeed  notable  witnesses  to  the  excellence 
of  our  democratic  system.  But  what  about  these  and  these 
thousands  who  failed  to  be  benefited  by  the  chance?”  We 
assume  ordinarily  that  of  one  hundred  pupils  who  enter  the 
lowest  elementary  grade,  one  hundred  or  a  slightly  smaller 
number  will  be  graduated.  The  fact  is,  however,  that  when 
the  sixth  grade  is  reached,  only  fifty  pupils  remain,  and 
that  of  these,  only  twenty-five  or  less  enter  the  graduating 
class.  Many  pupils  drop  school  at  fourteen,  even  though 
they  have  reached  only  the  sixth  grade,  because  they  are 
now  old  enough  to  work  for  needed  wages.  Leaving  these 
aside,  we  must  stiU  take  into  account  those  who  may  con¬ 
tinue  their  education  if  they  wish,  but  who  hate  the  schools 
too  heartily  to  remain.  For  these  there  is  none  of  the 
vital  significance  in  education  felt  by  those  who  elect  to 
continue.  Evidently  the  schooling  upon  which  the  few  suc- 
c^ful  survivors  thrive,  the  mere  ten  or  fifteen  per  cent, 
must  be  especially  adapted  to  them  alone. 

Our  conception  of  democratic  opportunity  would  be 


36 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


truer  to  the  facts  if  the  uniqueness  of  each  pupil  were 
taken  into  account,  and  if  unlike  capacities  were  given 
their  own  chance  to  prove  themselves.  Unfortunately,  the 
costly  educational  machinery  which  we  must  still  use  for 
many  years  to  come  operates  upon  the  idea  of  sameness.  In 
the  cities,  our  elementary  school  buildings  are  designed  to 
house  3,000  pupils.  The  principal  is  often  no  more  than  a 
business  administrator  who  signs  reports,  inspects  records, 
pays  flying  visits  to  classrooms,  and  checks  up  his  teachers 
to  see  whether  they  have  covered  the  required  number  of 
items  in  the  syllabus  of  studies.  The  teacher  is  in  charge 
of  forty  or  fifty  pupils  and  sometimes  more.  She  is  given 
a  definite  number  of  facts  to  teach  in  a  given  time.  She 
knows  that  she  will  be  rated  for  her  work,  not  as  she  brings 
to  blossom  the  special  aptitudes  of  each  child  or  touches 
each  soul  with  the  inspiration  needed  for  its  peculiar  diffi¬ 
culties,  but  according  as  she  finishes  a  scheduled  require¬ 
ment  in  a  given  number  of  weeks.  In  time,  therefore,  she 
ceases  to  regard  the  forty  or  fifty  young  people  before  her 
as  so  many  personalities,  each  with  its  special  possibilities 
of  excellent  life,  but  looks  on  them  as  a  single  body  of  per¬ 
forming  manikins  to  be  rushed  at  the  one  pace  through  the 
same  exercises  and  then  judged  worthy  or  unworthy  accord¬ 
ing  as  they  meet  a  single  test  for  all.  A  democratic  educa¬ 
tion  cannot  aim  at  subjecting  the  many  to  a  uniform  selec¬ 
tive  process  in  which  only  a  few  will  survive.  Rather,  it 
must  work  unceasingly  to  provide  genuine  opportunities  for 
all  the  many  diverse  types.  The  aristocratic  analogy  that 
it  takes  a  ton  of  pitchblende  to  produce  a  grain  of  radium 
does  not  apply  here.  Human  souls  are  not  pitchblende. 

Not  only  our  schooling  but  our  political  life  has  suffered 
from  loose  conceptions  of  equality.  It  is  undoubtedly  better 
than  hereditary  rule  that  everybody  should  have  the  same 
chance  as  everybody  else  to  become  mayor,  governor,  presi¬ 
dent.  But  this  has  led  to  one  of  our  outstanding  defects, 


37 


THE  MEANING  OF  EQUALITY 

a  rather  general  unwillingness  to  elect  officials  whose  attain¬ 
ments  are  above  the  average.  This  mistrust  is  due  in  part, 
no  doubt,  to  certain  weaknesses  in  the  more  expert.  Some¬ 
times  they  lay  themselves  open  to  the  suspicion  of  being 
unwarrantably  taken  with  their  own  importance,  or  else, 
because  specialists  are  exacting  persons,  they  fail  to  make 
the  ‘‘human,”  personal  accommodations  for  which  most 
voters  still  look. 

On  the  other  hand,  however,  our  failure  to  draw  into  our 
political  life  more  of  the  men  and  women  we  need  is  also 
due  to  the  “  I ’m-as-good-as-you-are  ”  habit  of  mind  which 
our  equality  catchwords  encourage.  A  true  product  of  the 
modes  of  pioneer  life  when  everybody  was  much  the  same 
kind  of  jack-of -all-trades  as  his  neighbor,  this  mental  trait 
has  been  reinforced  by  another  for  which  there  can  be  less 
excuse — a  cheap  sense  of  uneasiness  in  the  presence  of 
unlike  and  superior  ability.  As  De  Tocqueville  observed :  ^ 

There  is  a  manly  and  lawful  passion  for  equality  which  excites 
men  to  wish  all  to  be  powerful  and  honored.  But  there  exists 
also  in  the  human  heart  the  depraved  taste  for  equality  which 
impels  the  weak  to  attempt  to  lower  the  powerful  to  their  own 
level  and  reduces  men  to  prefer  equality  in  slavery  to  inequality 
in  freedom. 

Students  of  negro  life  in  America  have  observed  how  the 
colored  man  who  tries  to  lift  himself  above  the  prevailing 
level  of  his  fellow  blacks  has  to  encounter  their  envy,  sus¬ 
picion  and  small-mindedness.  But  in  white  societies,  too, 
the  equality  principle  often  works  out  in  the  same  down- 


2  A.  C.  De  Tocqueville,  Democracy  in  America,  Vol.  I,  p.  55.  This 
testimony  has  recently  come  from  Russia:  “Everybody  wears  th« 
garb  of  the  poor.  College  professors  and  bricklayers  look  alike.  A 
factory-hand  in  the  role  of  a  Commissar  may  be  even  better  dressed 
than  the  former  manager  of  the  concern.  This  may  not  add  to  the 
happiness  of  the  professor  or  the  engineer,  but  it  certainly  thrills  the 
man  of  the  rank  and  file.”  Moissaye  Olgin,  Republic,  June  15, 
1921. 


38 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


ward-levelling  fashion.  It  impels  voters  to  shun  the  candi¬ 
date  of  superior  talents  and  to  elect  the  mediocrity  whom 
they  recognize  as  one  of  themselves. 

In  general,  harm  has  come  from  the  tendency  to  make  the 
desire  for  equality  mean  that  passion  for  sameness  and 
external  conformity  by  which,  as  Mill  says,  public  senti¬ 
ment  can  sometimes  suppress  freedom  far  more  effectively 
than  laws  can.  Just  as  our  modem  machinery  turns  out 
“standardized”  goods  in  huge  quantities,  so  we  have  been 
rather  inclined  in  America  to  want  the  thoughts  and  the 
habits  of  people  to  conform  to  a  few  standardized  patterns. 
All  must  wear  the  same  kind  of  straw  hat  and  accept  the 
standard  preferences  in  books,  in  art,  and  in  political  and 
philosophical  outlook.  Instead  of  welcoming  the  play  of 
color  introduced  for  a  brief  moment  by  our  immigrants,  we 
seek  to  “Americanize”  them  into  a  drab  uniformity.®  We 
are  improving  in  this  respect,  no  doubt,  every  year,  but 
there  is  still  occasion  for  such  a  criticism  as  the  following 
comparison  by  an  English  observer,  even  though  the  stand¬ 
ard  set  by  business  aspirations  is  not  necessarily  due  to  mer¬ 
cenary  motives ; *  * 

» 

The  contemporaries  of  a  brilliant  youth  at  Oxford  or  at 
Cambridge  do  not  secretly  despise  him  if  he  declines  to  enter 
business.  .  .  .  Public  life  and  the  Church  offer  honorable  careers ; 
and  both  of  them  have  traditional  affinities  with  literature.  So 
has  the  Law,  still  in  England  a  profession  and  not  a  trade.  One 
may  even  be  a  don  or  a  schoolmaster  without  serious  discredit. 
Under  these  conditions  a  young  man  can  escape  from  the  stifling 
pressure  of  the  business  point  of  view.  .  .  .  He  can  choose  to 
be  poor  without  feeling  that  he  will  therefore  become  despicable. 
The  attitude  of  the  business  classes  in  England,  no  doubt,  is 
much  the  same  as  that  of  the  business  classes  in  America.  But  in 
England  there  are  other  classes  and  other  traditions,  havens  of 

3  For  the  better  way,  see  Americanization  Studies  (Harper  & 
Bros. ) . 

*G.  Lowes  Dickinson,  Appearances,  p.  199. 


THE  MEANING  OF  EQUALITY  39 

refuge  from  the  prevalent  commercialism.  In  America,  the  trade 
wind  blows  broad,  steady,  universal,  over  the  length  and  breadth 
of  the  continent.  .  .  .  [And  its  results  are]  monotony  of  talk, 
monotony  of  ideas,  monotony  of  aim,  monotony  of  outlook  on 
the  world. 

This  mistaken  tendency  some  quarters  of  our  country 
have  begun  to  outgrow,  and  the  process  will  continue  as 
we  increase  our  contacts  with  Europe,  especially  with  such 
lands  as  France.  In  no  country  in  the  world  is  it  easier  for 
men  to  vary  in  their  preferences  without  fear  of  being 
regarded  as  mild  lunatics.  To  be  different  from  one's 
neighbor  does  not  in  France  invite  such  more  or  less  overt 
objection  as  it  draws  among  us.  On  the  contrary,  the  dif¬ 
ferences  stimulate  precisely  the  qualities  which  have  made 
France  par  excellence  the  land  of  taste,  the  center  attract¬ 
ing  creative  minds  from  every  corner  of  the  globe.  ^  ‘  To  us 
art  is  an  addition  to  life,  a  luxury;  to  the  French  it  is  a 
way  of  living  ...  a  quality  of  everyday  existence  without 
which  life  is  not  considered  worth  while.  ’ '  ®  Give  us  time, 
we  say,  and  we,  too,  will  give  the  world  a  great  cultural  con¬ 
tribution.  Many  signs  of  hope  in  this  direction  have 
already  begun  to  appear.  But  in  the  meanwhile  let  us  not 
blink  the  fact  that  most  of  our  product  in  hooks  and  news¬ 
papers,  in  magazines,  in  song  and  drama,  and  not  least,  in 
our  political  and  ethical  opinions,  bears  the  mark  of  being 
turned  out  ready-made  to  meet  a  uniform  and  not  over- 
critical  demand.  We  have  not  yet  learned  the  important 
truth  that  equality  must  not  imply  sameness  in  thinking, 
acting  and  feeling. 

As  against  the  uniformity  idea,  we  need  the  reminder  that 
culture  is  best  in  the  measure  that  it  diversifies  the  minds 
which  it  touches.  The  cultivated  man  becomes  the  more 
genuinely  educated  the  more  true  he  is  to  himself  instead 


5  John  Erskine,  Democracy  and  Ideals,  p.  83. 


40 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


of  duplicating  other  minds.  He  is  saved  from  isolation  and 
eccentricity  by  the  circumstance  that  the  truest  living  is 
a  matter  of  right  relationship  with  other  and  diverse  per¬ 
sonalities.  A  nature  which  is  genuinely  original,  like 
Michelangelo ^8  or  Beethoven’s,  proves  its  vast  difference 
from  mere  freakishness  by  its  gift  of  provoking  productive 
originality  in  other  men.  America’s  culture  will  come  to 
grander  fruitage  when  originality  is  encouraged,  not  solely 
or  chiefly  in  business,  but  in  all  fields  of  endeavor. 

These  instances  have  been  adduced  to  point  the  need  of 
examining  what  equality  means  on  its  positive  side.  The 
“nature”  which  the  French  Revolutionists  invoked  cer¬ 
tainly  did  not  create  all  men  equal,  except  in  the  brute  fact 
that  all  alike  are  bom  and  then  die.  The  Declaration  of 
Independence  called  all  men  equal  in  the  right  to  life,  lib¬ 
erty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness.  But  we  have  already 
seen  that  nothing  so  surely  accentuates  inequality  as  the 
almost  boundless  liberty  which  our  nation  so  long  glorified 
and  which  we  have  been  more  and  more  obliged  to  restrict 
by  law.  And  the  “pursuit  of  happiness”  has  been  inter¬ 
preted  chiefly  in  terms  of  comfort  and  economic  prosperity. 
To  the  majority  of  our  fellow  citizens,  equality  has  meant 
something  quite  like  the  thought  of  the  old  woman,  the  cher¬ 
ry-seller,  who,  when  the  revolutionary  mob  stormed  the  Tuil- 
eries,  plumped  herself  on  the  queen’s  bed  with  the  remark, 
“It  is  now  time  for  the  nation  to  be  comfortable.” 

We  shall  never  rise  to  any  notable  excellence  if  we  con¬ 
tinue  to  teach  young  people  that  the  equality  to  be  most 
prized  is  equality  in  the  pursuit  of  comfort  or  prosperity, 
or  even  of  happiness.  It  is  the  duty  of  a  democratic  society 
to  equalize  as  far  as  possible  the  initial  opportunities  only 
in  so  far  as  there  are  worthy  ends  to  which  these  opportu¬ 
nities  minister.  The  things  that  look  good  to  men  are  good 
only  to  the  extent  that  they  promote  men ’s  spiritual  growth. 


41 


THE  MEANING  OF  EQUALITY 

It  is  in  the  need  for  such  growth  that  we  find  the  truest 
equality.  Men  are  equal  in  the  sense  that  potentially  they 
are  all  spiritual  beings. 

At  the  least,  this  requires  that  they  must  not  be  used  as 
tools  for  the  purposes  of  others.  In  feudal  times  no  such 
principle  was  accepted.  Men  did  not  count  at  all  for  what 
they  were  in  themselves.  They  were  rated  not  on  the 
ground  of  an  intrinsic  worth,  but  on  their  value  to  those 
above  them.  Each  level  of  society  found  its  reason  for 
existence  in  the  fact  that  the  grade  above  had  some  use  for 
it.  In  the  lowest  grade,  men  and  women  were  treated 
little  better  than  the  cattle  or  the  implements  on  a  farm. 
The  doctrine  of  equality,  however,  says  in  effect  that  every 
person  possesses  worth,  not  value  to  some  superior,  but 
intrinsic  preciousness.  ^ 

This  fact  of  an  inherent,  absolute  worth,  a  dignity  about 
man  as  such,  is  of  the  utmost  importance.  It  is  a  claim  to 
which  democratic  culture  should  pay  chief  honors;  and  it 
must  rest  upon  firmer  grounds  than  those  usually  asserted. 
The  usual  plea  is  the  one  popularized  in  the  eighteenth  cen¬ 
tury  by  such  poets  as  Thomas  Gray.  In  his  ^  ^  Elegy,  ’  ’  Gray 
is  thinking  of  the  people  who  are  too  poor  to  be  buried 
within  the  church.  He  contrasts  the  monuments  inside  with 
the  uncouth  rhymes  and  shapeless  sculptures  in  the  yard 
without.  He  notes  the  many  differences  in  order  to  empha¬ 
size  the  human  qualities  which  rich  and  poor  share  alike. 
Both  love  their  homes,  both  regret  to  leave  their  loved  ones 
behind,  both  desire  to  be  remembered  after  death.  And 
even  in  these  obscure  folk  there  are  all  sorts  of  undeveloped 
gifts,  talents  which,  given  their  chance,  make  statesmen, 
singers,  writers ; 

Perhaps  in  this  neglected  spot  is  laid 

Some  heart  once  pregnant  with  celestial  fire; 

Hands  that  the  rod  of  empire  might  have  swayed 
Or  waked  to  ecstasy  the  living  lyre. 


42 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


Now  it  would  be  easy  to  treat  all  people  with  the 
respect  required  by  the  affirmation  of  equality,  if  it  were 
true  that  all  were  alike  in  possessing  great  but  undeveloped 
talents.  The  stubborn  fact  remains,  however,  that  with 
every  opportunity  in  the  world,  many  persons  cannot  reach 
distinguished  excellence  simply  because  they  have  not  the 
gifts.  It  is  said  that  there  are  just  about  a  dozen  mathe¬ 
maticians  in  the  world  capable  of  really  following  Einstein. 
It  does  no  good  to  dodge  the  fact  of  great  inequalities  of 
natural  endowment.  It  is  hardly  likely  that  all  the  folk 
in  the  churchyard  could  have  done  the  things  that  Thomas 
Gray  did  with  his  special  powers.  Nor  is  their  love  of  kin 
and  their  unwillingness  to  die  the  greatest  fact  about  them. 
These  traits  they  share  with  animals,  concerning  whom  we 
not  predicate  the  equality  asserted  of  men. 

Human  beings,  however,  we  do  right  in  declaring  equal 
in  spite  of  the  obvious  inequalities.  The  reason  is  that  all 
are  spiritual  beings  and,  as  such,  in  duplicable  and  irreplace¬ 
able.  This  idea  will  be  developed  in  the  chapter  that  fol¬ 
lows.  In  practice  it  means  that  all  persons  are  alike  in 
having  something  of  that  higher  nature  which  shows  itself 
chiefly  in  the  will  to  do  right.  Not  all  can  compose  poetry, 
but  all  can  try  to  live  right  lives.  Here  was  the  level  on 
which  the  unlettered  peasant  might  indeed  stand  as  the 
equal  of  Thomas  Gray — the  plane  where,  by  trying  to  do 
his  duties  as  he  understood  them,  each  showed  himself  most 
truly  the  man.  Here,  in  the  capacity  for  moral  growth,  and 
in  the  duty  to  achieve  such  growth,  all  persons  must  be 
counted  alike.  Irresponsible  as  some  people,  no  doubt, 
prove  themselves,  even  these  are  not  to  be  treated  as  of  no 
worth.  If  they  are  ever  to  manifest  but  the  slightest  sign 
of  moral  responsibility,  these,  too,  must  be  regarded  as  per¬ 
sons,  not  things. 

This- is  a  basic  assumption  for  the  teaching  of  ethics  in  a 
democracy.  Political  equality  says  in  effect  that  to  all 


THE  MEANING  OP  EQUALITY  43 

rational  beings  is  paid  the  great  honor  of  assuming  that  they 
are  capable  of  appreciating  their  responsibilities  and  of 
trying  to  live  up  to  them.  A  tribute  to  an  essential  dignity 
in  man  is  implied,  even  though  his  achievements  are  often 
so  lamentable.  No  groups  are  to  be  permanently  debarred 
from  offering  their  services  to  the  community  or  from  a 
share  in  deciding  the  objects  of  the  services.  On  the  con¬ 
trary,  every  encouragement  is  to  be  given,  because  the 
hope  of  democracy  lies  in  the  fact  that  by  trying  to  measure 
up  to  these  responsibilities,  each  citizen  can  make  himself 
the  better  being.  That  the  practice  is  often  a  deplorable 
caricature  of  the  ideal  must  be  admitted.  All  the  more 
reason,  therefore,  for  trying  to  understand  how  excellent 
is  the  instrument  whose  value  we  so  frequently  fail  to  prize. 

Such  a  conception  not  only  recognizes  the  inequalities 
on  which  the  aristocratic  foes  of  democracy  in  the  nine¬ 
teenth  century,  from  Carlyle  to  Nietzsche,  have  never  tired 
of  harping,  but  it  insists  upon  political  equality  in  order 
that  the  valuable  inequalities  may  be  freer  to  enter  into 
more  fruitful  interplay.  Its  hope  is  that  men  thus  will 
learn  to  see  which  inequalities  are  really  the  most  deserving. 
The  time  may  yet  come,  undemocratic  as  it  now  sounds  to 
say  so,  when,  every  man  having  received  the  utmost  oppor¬ 
tunity  to  educate  himself,  our  franchise  may  be  so  graded 
as  to  give  the  abler  minds  a  voting  power  in  excess  of  that 
allowed  to  the  majority.®  Meanwhile  our  present  equality 
is  justified  by  the  fact  that  in  the  long  run  people  are  more 
likely  to  profit  from  their  own  errors  than  from  the  guid¬ 
ance  of  the  wisest  and  most  benevolent  of  despots,  if  such 
can  anywhere  be  found. 

The  point  to  impress  is  that  all  men  are  equal  in  the 
obligation  to  give  their  best  and  that  they  need  every  help 
they  can  offer  one  another  to  make  this  best  still  better. 


0  See  Mark  Twain,  The  Curious  RepuhUc  of  Gondour. 


44 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


For  this  reason,  necessary  as  it  is  under  present  conditions 
to  keep  our  equality  in  voting  power,  our  education  should 
do  more  than  it  does  now  to  remind  us  that  democracy  calls 
for  an  ethics  aware  not  only  of  the  likenesses  but  of  the 
unlikenesses.  Both  facts  are  essential.  All  men  are  equal 
in  being  needed  to  perform  their  services,  but  neither  the 
services  nor  the  capacities  to  render  them  are  alike.  But 
all  people  are  equal  in  that  each  is  expected  to  do  his  special 
best.  Each  owes  it  to  all  the  others  to  do  his  work  in  such 
a  way  that  they  will  be  able  to  do  theirs  better. 

In  other  words,  our  culture  should  tell  us  that  there  is 
a  great  fund  of  human  experience  linking  the  ages  past, 
present,  and  to  come,  a  treasury  of  right  practice  and 
insight  to  which  all  must  contribute  their  choicest.  Some 
have  already  made  such  excellent  contributions  that  we 
look  up  to  them  with  special  reverence,  ‘‘the  noble  living 
and  ,  the  noble  dead.’^  There  are  others  who,  each  in  his 
own  way,  are  engaged  with  us  now  in  increasing  the  fund. 
Then  there  are  those  less  developed  to  whom  we  transmit 
the  fund  and  whom  we  try  to  teach  to  put  forth  their  unique 
offerings.  Yesterday,  to-day,  and  to-morrow  are  alike  in 
being  needed  to  enrich  the  fund,  equal  in  the  fact  of  par¬ 
ticipating  in  this  overarching  responsibility. 

Such  a  placing  of  the  accent  upon  duty  escapes  the  evil 
done  when  all  the  emphasis  is  put  upon  rights.  In  our 
own  country,  the  latter  stress  has  led  all  too  frequently  to 
the  “I’m-as-good-as-you-are”  attitude  and  the  levelling 
downward  which  we  have  seen  to  be  so  common  and  so 
hurtful.  The  dog-in-the-manger  attitude  is  another  such 
expression.  Once,  however,  the  rule  for  life  is  expressed  in 
terms  not  of  demand  for  rights  but  of  performance  of 
duties,  we  accept  in  better  part  the  fact  that  not  all  can 
offer  the  same  gifts.  My  vote  does  not  voice  the  wisdom  of 
the  specialist  in  civic  affairs ;  but  it  should  speak  the  same 
desire  as  his  to  do  what  is  best  for  the  country.  The 


THE  MEANING  OF  EQUALITY  45 

equality  lies  neither  in  the  magnitude  of  the  offering  nor 
in  its  specific  nature  but  in  the  fact  that  it  is  a  needed 
offering  and  is  given  in  the  right  spirit. 

This  view  further  saves  us  from  glorifying  the  *  ‘  individ¬ 
uality’^  which  is  mainly  selfishness  or  may  often  be  a  love 
of  novelty  for  its  own  sake.  A  genuine  personality,  as 
already  stated,  is  marked  by  its  creative  influence  upon 
other  personalities,  an  effect  impossible  for  the  individual¬ 
ist  who  chafes  at  the  fact  of  interdependence.  On  the  other 
hand,  conformity  can  by  no  means  be  the  master-word  for 
a  progressive  civilization  as  complex  as  our  own.  The  clue 
to  right  relationship  is  to  keep  in  sight  the  thought  that 
there  is  in  everyone  something  found  only  in  him  and  that 
each  is  to  treat  his  fellow  men  in  such  ways  that  this  dis¬ 
tinctive  power  in  the  one  shall  call  out  into  more  effective 
interaction  the  distinctive  nature  in  all  the  others.  *‘No 
head,”  said  Walt  Whitman,  “is  without  its  nimbus  of 
gold-colored  light.”  In  a  society  shaped  on  ethical  lines, 
each  life — single  or  group — ^would  make  its  own  objects  so 
worthy  that  instead  of  thwarting  the  development  of  the 
self  symbolized  by  that  nimbus,  each  would  encourage 
every  other. 

Positive  equality  means,  then,  that  in  the  work  of  bring¬ 
ing  to  light  the  hidden  promise  in  men,  all  are  needed. 
A  democratic  education  will  make  a  point  of  clarifying  end¬ 
lessly  the  splendid  prospects  opened  up  by  this  truth.  In 
the  process  of  contributing  their  gifts  to  the  collective  task 
thus  indicated,  men  will  be  able  to  feel  a  new  sense  of  some¬ 
thing  in  themselves  inalienably  great. 

Questions  and  Problems 

1.  Read  the  description  of  frontier  life  in  Hamlin  Garland’s 
Son  of  the  Middle  Border.  Show  how  these  conditions 
encouraged  the  traditional  conception  of  freedom  and 
equality. 


46 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


2.  Contrast  these  conditions  with  the  life  of  to-day. 

3.  What  kind  of  superiority  do  you  think  is  most  honored  by 
the  majority  of  people  in  America? 

4.  Should  natural  ability  be  rewarded  in  proportion  to  its 
^  superiority?  For  example,  should  a  man  ten  times  abler 

than  another  receive  ten  times  as  much? 

5.  What  other  appeals  than  greater  material  payment  may  be 
used  to  induce  men  to  perform  public  services? 

6.  What  danger  is  there  in  to-day’s  swing  toward  the  assertion 
of  natural  inequality?  What  advantages  may  it  have? 

7.  If  civilization  needs  leaders,  how  should  we  go  about  get¬ 
ting  them? 

8.  Discuss  the  thought  of  Robert  Burns  in  ‘‘A  Man’s  a  Man  for 
a’  That.” 

9.  Comment  on  the  statement:  ^‘Thou  canst  not  choose  thy 
task,  perhaps,  but  thou  canst  choose  to  do  it  well.”  What 
kind  of  equality  would  you  define  as  best? 

References 

See,  besides  references  quoted  in  text: 

Adler,  Felix,  An  Ethical  Philosophy  of  Life,  Book  IV,  Ch.  L 

Arnold,  Matthew,  Discourses  in  America. 

Bryce,  James,  Modern  Democracies,  Ch.  VII. 

Carlyle,  Thomas,  Past  and  Present. 

MacCunn,  John,  The  Ethics  of  Citizenship,  Ch.  1. 

Tufts,  J.  H.,  Our  Democracy:  Its  Origins  and  Its  Tasks,  Ch. 

XXVI,  XXVII. 

Turner,  F.  J.,  The  Frontier  in  American  History, 


CHAPTER  IV 


THE  SPIRITUAL  IDEAL 

Our  examination  thus  far  has  shown  us  that  such  favor¬ 
ite  doctrines  as  freedom  and  equality  rest  on  certain  funda¬ 
mentally  ethical  assumptions  and  that  a  democratic  life 
must  try  to  know  more  and  more  about  these  ideals.  But 
the  term  “ethical’^  has  a  variety  of  meanings,  and  we 
shall  now  attempt  to  define  it  as  it  is  used  in  these  pages. 
It  is  not  expected  that  only  as  here  understood  should  the 
word  apply.  All  who  are  concerned  about  ethical  progress 
will  no  more  agree  upon  the  first  principles  here  sketched 
than  they  will  belong  to  the  same  church,  and  readers  who 
are  not  interested  in  philosophy  may,  indeed,  skip  this  chap¬ 
ter.  But  just  as  it  helps  us  to  understand  the  new  “learn¬ 
ing-by-doing”  if  we  know  its  relation  to  the  Pragmatist 
philosophy  of  Professor  Dewey,  so  will  the  ideals  suggested 
in  this  book  be  better  understood  if  their  background  is 
pointed  out.  They  are  indebted  in  largest  measure  to  the 
teachings  offered  for  many  years  to  philosophy  classes  ^t 
Columbia  University  by  Dr.  Felix  Adler  and  recently 
brought  together  in  his  Ethical  Philosophy  of  Life. 

The  starting  point  is  an  outstanding  fact  of  moral  expe¬ 
rience.  We  are  somehow  impelled  to  regard  every  human 
being  as  worth  while  on  his  own  account,  at  the  very  least 
as  entitled  to  protection  against  outrage.  We  have  no 
compunctions,  for  instance,  against  using  a  horse  as  a  beast 
of  burden  and  then  selling  him.  We  may  not  so  treat  a 

man.  We  eat  animal  food,  but  even  the  starving  may  not 

47 


48 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


practice  cannibalism.  We  protest  against  child  labor, 
against  slavery,  against  the  degradation  of  women  to 
men’s  appetites,  against  tyranny,  against  injustice  of  what¬ 
ever  kind,  on  the  ground  that  such  conduct  sins  against  an 
essential  sacredness  in  people.  The  experience  is  familiar 
enough.  Every  outcry  against  the  oppression  of  man  by 
man,  or  against  whatever  is  morally  hideous,  is  but  the 
affirmation  of  the  cardinal  principle  that  a  human  being, 
as  such,  is  not  to  be  violated,  is  not  to  be  handled  like  a 
tool,  but  is  to  be  respected  and  revered  as  an  end  per  ^ 

This  fact  of  human  worth,  which  the  best  of  human 
practice  by  implication  honors,  is  of  prime  importance  even 
though  ethics  is  usually  spoken  of  as  a  theory  of  “values.” 
But  the  oonception  of  value  is  decidedly  less  fundamental 
than  that  of  worth.  Observe  the  difference  between  the 
two :  ^ 

Value  is  subjective.  The  worth  notion  is  the  most  objective 
conceivable.  .  .  .  We  possess  value  for  one  another  for  the  reason 
that  each  of  us  has  wants  which  the  others  alone  are  capable  of 
satisfying.  .  .  .  But  value  ceases  when  the  want  or  need  is  grati¬ 
fied.  The  value  which  one  human  being  has  for  another  is  tran¬ 
sient.  There  are  in  the  strict  sense  no  permanent  values.  The 
value  which  the  majority  have  for  the  more  advanced  and 
developed  members  of  a  community  is  small ;  from  the  standpoint 
of  value,  most  persons  are  duplicable  and  dispensable.  Consider 
only  the  ease  with  which  factory  labor  is  replaced,  in  consequence 
of  the  prolific  fertility  of  the  human  race. 

The  relationships  of  men  cannot  but  be  influenced  in  one 
way  or  another  by  convictions,  or  the  lack  of  them,  on  these 
fundamental  matters: 

When  we  review  our  life,  how  little  as  a  rule  have  we  occasion 
to  be  content  with  ourselves!  How  many  wayside  flowers,  per¬ 
haps,  have  we  trampled  upon!  If  we  have  not  oppressed  others, 


1  Felix  Adler,  An  Ethical  Philosophy  of  Life,  p.  103. 

2  76id.,  p.  117. 


THE  SPIRITUAL  IDEAL 


49 


yet  how  often  have  we  suppressed  in  others  powers  and  capabili¬ 
ties  simply  because  we  had  no  use  for  them,  because  they  did  not 
fit  into  the  hard  and  fast  frame  of  our  own  Opinions  and  predilec¬ 
tions  which  tyrannously  we  impose  on  others  as  a  law !  * 

It  makes  a  difference  whether  human  life  is  invested  with 
the  supreme  dignity  of  worth,  not  merely  that  of  value. 
This  idea  of  man  as  an  end  in  itself  received  its  first  phil¬ 
osophic  formulation  from  Immanuel  Kant.  But  important 
as  it  was  to  say  that  no  man  should  ever  be  treated  as  a  mere 
means  to  the  ends  of  other  men,  Kant  failed  to  supply  a 
solid  justification  for  the  statement.  It  is  not  easy  to 
explain  just  why  human  beings  should  be  regarded  as 
intrinsically  worth  while,  but  in  the  interests  of  a  better 
grasp  upon  the  principles  of  a  democracy  which  implicitly 
requires  such  an  attitude  toward  people,  it  is  essential  to 
get  all  possible  light  upon  a  conception  so  basic.  There  are 
leaders  of  public  opinion  to-day  who  roundly  deny  any 
sacredness  to  the  life  of  man,  biologists  who  insist  that  the 
differences  between  human  and  animal  existence  are  of 
slight  account,  if  indeed  such  differences  there  are  at  all, 
fatalists  who  rule  out  of  reckoning  the  power  of  so-called 
ideals,  scorners  of  democracy  who  can  see  in  the  great 
swarms  of  men  nothing  in  the  least  deserving  of  respect. 

But  democracy  insists  that  such  respect  be  shown.  The 
claim  is  too  important  to  be  left  to  the  mercy  of  chance 
winds  of  doctrine.  It  cannot  be  based  on  the  fact  implied 
in  some  of  to-day’s  social  philosophies:  “Don’t  tread  on 
the  man  below — he  has  the  power  to  strike  back.”  This  is 
a  philosophy  of  strife.  Its  results  throughout  the  world 
have  been  devastating  enough.  Its  pitting  of  power  against 
power  shows  the  need  for  a  philosophy  of  justice.  Why 
labor  for  social  reform?  Is  a  man  entitled  to  more  human 
living  conditions  for  no  better  reason  than  the  fact  that 


3  Adler,  Ethical  Addresses,  1903,  p.  28. 


50 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


otherwise  he  will  do  mischief  1  Or  even  because  he  is  simply 
to  be  pitied  for  to-day’s  inequities?  Animals,  too,  can  be 
pitied,  but  persons  merit  something  better  than  the  com¬ 
miseration  we  feel  for  suffering  beasts. 

Moreover,  our  ethical  convictions  must  be  able  to  meet 
the  disillusioning  experiences  which  very  few  of  us  can  ever 
avoid.  Even  where  our  philosophy  of  life  is  not  pessimistic, 
a  dispassionate  survey  of  human  conduct  inclines  us  often 
to  doubt  whether  there  is  anything  about  men  so  very  worth 
respecting  at  all.  The  writer  was  once  asked,  “Why  do 
you  speak  of  the  spiritual  nature  as  the  ‘real’  self?  Is  it 
not  a  fact  that  the  real  self  in  many  people  is  their  selfish¬ 
ness,  their  conceit,  their  spitefulness,  their  cruelty  ?  ’  ’ 

The  existence  of  such  qualities  does  indeed  give  frequent 
pause  to  people’s  ethical  enthusiasms.  So  does  the  fact 
that  what  we  are  pleased  to  call  virtues  are  often  qualities 
of  surface  attractiveness  or  else  disguised  vices.  There 
was  once  a  professor  of  Greek  at  Harvard  who  used  to  tell 
his  classes  that  the  300  Spartans  died  at  Thermopylae, 
because  if  they  had  gone  home,  their  own  countrymen  would 
have  slain  them.  Often  it  is  extremely  hard  to  say  how  far 
the  acts  we  admire  as  superbly  “moral”  may  not  have 
their  baser  admixture.  Besides,  the  commonplaceness  of 
the  lives  led  by  enormous  multitudes,  the  bovine  placidity 
with  which  they  do  little  more  than  tread  the  usual  round 
of  work  and  pleasure,  would  scarcely  seem  to  warrant  a 
philosophy  of  life  based  upon  an  inherent  greatness  in  men 
as  such. 

It  would  be  folly  to  ignore  these  facts.  To  frame  a 
world  view  without  them  simply  increases  the  hold  which 
the  pessimists  obtain  by  playing  up,  as  they  do,  the  ugly 
facts  to  the  full.  It  is  here  that  the  spiritual  philosophy  of 
Dr.  Adler  offers  us  the  needed  light.  In  spite  of  the  things 
that  otherwise  shake  our  faith  in  men,  it  insists  upon  our 
remembering  the  basic  fact  that  men  possess  not  mere  value 


THE  SPIRITUAL  IDEAL 


51 


but  worth.  This  means  that  a  man  must  somehow  he 
unique,  not  a  duplicate.  If  he  is  a  duplicate,  he  can  be 
spared.  If,  however,  he  has  worth,  he  cannot  be  replaced 
but  is  indispensable. - 

Worth  signifies  indispensableness  in  a  perfect  whole.  No 
detached  thing  has  worth.  No  part  of  an  incomplete  system  has 
worth.  Worth  belongs  to  those  to  whom  it  is  attributed  in  so 
far  as  they  are  conceived  of  as  not  to  be  spared,  as  representing 
a  distinctive,  indispensable  preciousness,  a  mode  of  being  without 
which  perfection  would  be  less  than  perfect.  To  rate  anyone  as 
an  end  per  se  means  that  in  a  world  regarded  as  perfect  his  exist¬ 
ence  would  be  indispensable.  The  world  we  know  may  not  be 
perfect,  is  not  perfect;  but  we  do  conceive  of  an  ideal  world  that 
is.  And  to  ascribe  to  anyone  the  quality  of  worth  ...  is  to  place 
him  into  that  world,  to  regard  him  as  potentially  a  member  of  it.^ 

What  is  the  scheme  of  this  perfect  order  ?  In  a  perfect 
work  of  art,  nothing  is  missing  and  nothing  is  superfluous, 
not  a  word  in  the  poem,  or  a  note  in  the  symphony,  or  a 
color  or  line  in  the  painting.  So  in  the  world  of  perfect 
moral  being,  all  who  are  there  are  necessary,  and  all  who  are 
necessary  are  there.  This  is  the  first  reason  for  calling  it 
perfect.  In  the  second  place,  this  ideal  is  qualitatively 
perfect  because  the  relation  of  its  members  cannot  be 
improved  upon ;  that  is,  each  life  is  so  related  to  every  other 
that  the  unique  excellence  of  each  is  the  very  condition 
which  guarantees  the  excellence  in  all  the  others.  Again 
the  illustration  from  art  may  offer  an  analogy.  In  the 
perfect  painting,  each  touch  of  color  is  made  more  beautiful 
by  the  fact  that  it  stands  not  alone  but  in  a  totality  where 
every  other  color  is  precisely  of  the  tone  to  bring  out  each 
at  its  best.  We  call  the  painting  perfect  when  each  color 
ioes  its  part  to  help  all  the  others  reveal  their  utmost  beauty. 
If  there  were  a  single  color  that  failed  to  contribute  to  this 
effect,  the  whole  would  be  spoiled. 


*  Ibid.,  pp.  99, 101. 


1 


52 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


Such  a  relation  on  a  far  more  sublime  scale  is  true  of  that 
perfect  commonwealth  in  which  the  worth  of  every  human 
soul  is  validated.  The  something  essentially  constituting 
your  personality  is  the  very  condition  that  makes  it  pos¬ 
sible  for  me  to  be  myself,  and  the  same  holds  true  in  return. 

In  other  words,  there  is  in  every  man  something  distinc¬ 
tively  his  own  which  all  his  fellow  men  need  in  order  that 
what  is  distinctively  theirs  may  shine  forth  the  better. 
Looked  at  in  the  mass,  all  of  us  are  in  the  main  quite  alike. 
We  have  about  the  same  kinds  of  body;  we  eat  much  the 
same  foods;  we  have  the  same  need  to  sleep  and  to  ward 
off  illness ;  all  alike  must  some  day  die.  In  America  alone, 
there  are  over  100,000,000  of  us.  As  things  of  flesh  and 
blood,  we  exhibit  differences  which  are  relatively  slight,  so 
slight  that  we  can  very  easily  be  spared.  But  something 
in  us  protests  against  this  avoirdupois  estimate  of  human 
existence.  Deep  down  at  our  best,  we  are  conscious  of  that 
in  us  which  aspires  to  be  a  creature  of  a  rarer  order  than  a 
mere  consumer  of  food  and  drink.  At  our  highest,  we  do 
differ  from  one  another,  and,  in  the  perfect  relationship, 
this  very  difference  in  each  encourages  the  uniqueness  in 
every  other.  Each  is  both  giver  and  recipient  of  jets  of 
influence  whereby  each  is  the  better  able  to  be  his  essential 
self. 

The  practical  outcome  of  this  view  will  perhaps  command 
assent  from  even  those  who  do  not  accept  the  philosophic 
premises.  The  leading  thought  is  summed  up  in  Dr.  Adler ’s 
maxim:  *‘So  act  as  to  elicit  in  others  their  distinctive 
characteristics  as  fellow  members  of  the  infinite  whole, 
or  “  So  act  as  to  bring  out  in  others  what  is  genuinely  worth 
while  and  thereby  call  it  forth  in  ourselves.  ’  * 

To  an  age  like  ours,  whose  interest  in  change  is  largely 
in  external  reforms,  this  may  seem  a  strange  enough  leading 
principle  to  suggest  for  a  better  democracy.  But  some  such 


THE  SPIRITUAL  IDEAL 


53 


spiritual  ideal  is  a  pressing  need.  The  improvements,  for 
example,  which  to-day’s  social  justice  is  rightly  urging^ — 
better  houses,  playgrounds,  the  banishing  of  poverty — are 
only  tools,  as  much  so  as  fountain  pens  are  tools,  capable 
of  being  used  indifferently  to  write  lies  or  truth,  nonsense 
or  wisdom.  These  tangible  goods  are  necessary  because 
they  minister  to  the  growth  of  personality;  and  a  person¬ 
ality  immensely  finer  and  loftier  than  to-day’s  must  arise. 
The  services  owed  to  our  fellow  men  are,  in  reality,  acts  of 
deference  to  this  potential  higher  nature.  They  are  not 
deserved  by  what  human  beings  exhibit  in  point  of  fact. 
Men  who  waste  the  gifts  that  are  sometimes  bought  with  the 
heart’s  blood  of  others  certainly  do  not  merit  the  sacrifices. 
These  offerings  are  tributes  to  a  latent  excellence  infinitely 
fairer.  The  reality  of  this  higher  nature  nothing  should 
allow  us  to  forget.  To  keep  our  efforts  at  educational  or 
other  service  from  growing  mechanical — as  in  time  all  such 
efforts  become  when  the  highest  inspirations  are  absent — 
we  need  a  vivid  sense  of  the  supreme  need :  there  must  grow 
in  the  souls  of  men  a  greatness  utterly  surpassing  what 
exists  now. 

This  is  what  we  mean  by  speaking  of  spiritual  aims. 
The  word  spiritual,  like  so  many  in  the  moral  vocabulary, 
has  been  degraded.  To  some  people  it  has  come  to  stand 
for  a  kind  of  sentimental  hunger,  a  species  of  emotionalism 
which  professes  to  scorn  the  things  of  earth  or  a  sort  of 
religiosity  which  feeds  on  sheer  feeling  as  a  girl  might  feed 
on  a  box  of  candy.  To  others  the  word  speaks  of  ghosts, 
table-tapping,  and  other  messages  from  beyond  the  grave. 
But  even  though  the  term  has  been  misused,  there  is  no 
other  that  so  suggests  the  personal  depths  which  need  to  be 
touched  in  our  best  individual  and  collective  dealings. 
‘‘There  is  a  loftier  righteousness  over  and  beyond  the  right¬ 
eousness  of  the  day,  of  which  the  human  race  has  as  yet 
caught  only  the  sublime  outline.”  In  another  passage,  the 


54 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


nobler  personality  to  be  aimed  at  is  referred  to  by  Dr. 
Adler  in  these  words ;  ® 

The  spiritual  nature  is  like  a  rich  mine  only  the  upper  layers 
of  which  have  been  grazed.  Below,  in  the  dark,  in  the  region  of 
the  unexplored,  lie  the  brightest  jewels,  the  most  precious  gold. 
And  the  distinctions  between  one  individual  and  another  are  like 
the  boundaries  that  mark  off  field  from  field  above  on  the  surface. 
Beneath,  regardless  of  the  external  demarcations,  lies  the  mine. 
To  bring  to  light  that  hidden  worth,  not  to  develop  self  as  a 
thing  apart,  nor  to  help  others  as  if  they  were  separable  from 
ourselves,  but  to  develop  the  mine,  the  spiritual  nature  which  is 
common  to  our  fellow  beings  and  ourselves,  that  is  the  aim. 

Let  us  now  imagine  such  a  relationship  extended  ad  infin¬ 
itum  and  elevated  to  its  utmost  purity  so  that  back  and 
forth  from  each  to  every  other  in  the  infinite  host  of  being, 
the  play  of  stimulation  works  endlessly  and  on  the  loftiest 
of  levels.  In  the  actual  life  we  see  around  us,  no  such 
spectacle  is  possible  or  ever  can  be.  What  happens  even 
when  we  try  our  best  falls  pitifully  short  of  this  complete, 
perfect  relationship  we  behold  with  the  inner  eye.  But, 
in  spite  of  our  failures,  this  perfect  life  is  no  mere  cry  of 
the  heart.  It  is  as  real  as  any  society  we  call  real.®  And 
the  practical  counsel  we  draw  from  the  vision  of  the 
perfect  order  is:  Treat  fellow  beings  in  such  ways  that 
recognition  of  this  spiritual  society  and  of  our  membership 
in  it  becomes  for  them  and  us  more  compelling. 

People  shy  off  sometimes  at  the  thought  of  thus  delib¬ 
erately  influencing  the  lives  of  others.  Is  it  not  enough 
to  live  and  let  live  ?  But,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  whether  we 
wiU  or  not,  we  are  at  every  moment  of  our  lives  affecting 
others  for  good  or  ill,  and,  little  as  we  may  be  inclined  to 


®  Ihid.,  p.  26. 

6  For  an  outline  of  the  argument  for  the  reality  of  the  spiritual 
universe,  see  footnote  on  pages  61  and  62.  The  full  argument  is 
given  in  An  Ethipal  Philosophy  of  Life,  Book  II. 


THE  SPIRITUAL  IDEAL 


55 


welcome  the  obligation,  the  duty  remains  of  trying  to  make 
these  effects  good  and  right.  For  instance,  if  we  are  parents 
or  teachers,  both  our  knowledge  and  our  ignorance  cannot 
help  but  produce  in  our  children  consequences  of  one  sort 
or  another.  As  citizens,  we  affect  other  lives  by  our  votes, 
by  the  public  sentiment  we  help  to  strengthen,  or  create,  or 
change,  nay,  by  the  very  silences  that  shape  opinion  as 
truly  as  our  speech.  As  consumers,  we  help  to  decide  by 
the  quantity  and  kind  of  goods  we  buy  how  multitudes  of 
people  are  to  earn  their  livings;  by  the  prices  we  pay,  the 
demands  we  make,  we  influence  their  wages,  and  so  on  in 
countless  ways. 

Nor  knowest  thou  what  argument 

Thy  life  to  thy  neighbor’s  creed  hath  lent. 

We  have  no  choice  as  to  whether  our  conduct  shall  touch 
the  lives  of  others  or  not.  Our  only  choice  is  how  far  we 
will  try  to  make  those  effects  beneficial.  Where  the  better 
possibility  is  open  to  our  sight,  there  always  the  line  of 
moral  obligation  is  marked  out  for  us. 

Here  the  spiritual  view  of  life  provides  this  guidance: 
We  are  to  see  in  our  fellow  men  that  which  the  universe 
cannot  spare;  we  are  to  help  their  actual  humanity  live 
up  to  this,  and,  in  the  process,  we  shall  be  putting  fresh 
life  into  our  own  higher  being.  “Survey  your  many  rela¬ 
tionships  and  seek  to  ethicize  them  by  the  conduct  which 
calls  out  the  consciousness  of  spiritual  linkage.”  What 
does  this  require?  We  are  linked  to  our  fellow  beings  in 
endless  ways.  For  example,  we  are  born  in  families  and  so 
related,  albeit  through  no  choice  of  our  own,  to  parents  and 
to  brothers  and  sisters.  The  ethical  relation  seeks  to  turn 
this  accidental  bond  into  the  means  of  learning  the  better 
how  to  get  on  with  other  people,  and  learning  also  what 
the  best  way  of  life  is.  The  home  is  our  first  training 
ground  in  ethical  citizenship  and  spiritual  perception. 


56 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


The  school  is  another.  So  is  our  vocational  life,  and  so  is 
our  life  as  neighbors  in  the  community,  in  the  nation,  in 
the  world  family,  in  the  religious  fellowship.  In  all  these 
relationships,  there  is  already  some  tie  binding  us  to  other 
people,  and  ethical  living  is  the  attempt  to  spiritualize 
this  tie  by  making  it  the  means  to  progressive  understand¬ 
ing  of  the  perfect  relationship.  Certain  hints,  foregleams, 
suggestions  of  the  ideal  life  already  exist  in  the  fact  that 
we  live  even  now  in  these  various  groups.  In  each  of  these, 
there  are  already  at  work  motives  which  can  be  utilized  in 
the  interest  of  the  spiritual  relation.  Thus,  in  the  family, 
the  members  are  united  by  a  natural  affection  out  of  which 
is  to  be  developed  a  right  attitude  toward  those  more 
numerous  beings  who  are  not  of  our  kin.  In  the  same 
way,  we  belong  to  vocational  groups  where,  in  the  more 
fortunate  circles,  the  motive  is  to  express  a  talent  or  special 
gift.  This  vocational  motive  is  ethicized  when  it  becomes 
the  desire  so  to  use  one’s  gifts  that  fellow  workers,  pro¬ 
ducers,  consumers,  all  in  any  way  affected,  are  better 
enabled  to  give  the  world  their  best.'^  In  the  national  life, 
the  bond  is  patriotism,  and  this  is  spiritualized  when  it 
seeks  to  have  the  groups  within  one’s  country  so  stimulate 
one  another  that  one’s  country  and  all  the  other  lands  may 
call  out  in  one  another  their  distinctive  excellences.  “The 
highest  life  in  each  is  that  which  penetrates  creatively  into 
the  life  of  the  groups  whereof  the  individual  is  a  member.  ’  ’ 

In  each  of  the  social  institutions,  or,  as  we  may  now  call  them, 
the  phases  of  life-experience  through  which  the  individual  must 
pass  on  the  way  toward  personality,  the  winning  of  the  ethical 
result  depends  on  observance  of  the  threefold  reverence.^  .  .  . 
Mankind  as  a  whole,  the  generations  past,  present,  and  to  come, 
have  a  certain  work  to  do.  .  .  .  The  spiritual  conception  of  this 
collective  task  is  the  basis  of  the  threefold  reverence.  .  .  .  Man- 

7  See  Chapters  VI  and  IX  in  this  book. 

8  Based  not,  like  Goethe’s,  on  pantheism,  but  on  ethical  realism. 


THE  SPIRITUAL  IDEAL 


57 


kind  partially  reproduces  in  the  present  the  mental  and  moral 
acquisition  of  ancestors,  partially  increases  the  heritage  and  passes 
it  on  to  the  newcomers.  I,  as  an  individual,  am  also  inextricably 
linked  up  backward,  and  forward  with  those  who  come  before  and 
those  who  are  to  come  after.  .  .  .  The  task  laid  upon  human 
society  as  a  whole  is  also  laid  upon  me. 

But  much  is  preserved  from  the  past  that  ought  to  be  cast  aside. 
A  mixed  stream,  compounded  of  good  and  evil,  passes  through  our 
veins  into  our  successors\  .  .  .  The  ethical  conception  of  progress 
depends  on  the  view  that  there  is  an  ideal  pattern  of  the  spiritual 
relation  in  the  mind  of  man,  destined  to  become  more  explicit  as 
it  is  tested  out,  and  that  the  present  generation  ought  to  appraise 
the  heritage  of  the  past  according  to  this  pattern,  preserving  and 
rejecting  and  adding  its  own  quota  in  such  a  way  as  to  enable  the 
succeeding  generations  to  sift  the  worthful  from  the  worthless 
more  successfully,  and  to  see  the  ideal  pattern  more  explicitly. 

The  threefold  reverence  has  been  described  as  reverence  toward 
superiors,  equals,  and  inferiors.  For  this  inadequate  description 
I  would  substitute  the  following:  In  place  of  reverence  toward 
superiors,  reverence  for  the  valid  work  of  ethicizing  human  rela¬ 
tions  already  accomplished  in  the  past,  reverence  for  the  precious 
permanent  achievements  and  for  those  who  achieved  them. 

The  second  kind  of  reverence  is  directed  toward  those  who  are, 
in  respect  of  their  gifts  and  opportunities,  approximately  on  the 
same  level  with  us,  but  whose  gifts  differ  from  and  are  supple¬ 
mentary  to  ours.  In  our  relation  to  them  we  may  learn  the  great 
lesson  of  appreciating  unlikeness,  and  working  out  our  own 
correlative  unlikeness  by  way  of  reaction. 

The  third  kind  of  reverence  is  directed  toward  the  undeveloped, 
among  whom  I  include  the  young,  the  backward  groups  among 
civilized  peoples,  and  the  uncivilized  peoples.  We  are  to  reverence 
that  which  is  potential  in  all  these  groups,  and  we  do  so  by  fitting 
ourselves  to  help  them  actualize  their  spiritual  possibilities.  Rev¬ 
erence  of  the  third  kind  takes  the  highest  rank  among  the 
three.  .  .  .  The  unrealized  possibilities  of  mankind  are  the  chief 
asset.  But  in  order  to  effectuate  our  purpose  with  respect  to  the 
undeveloped,  we  must  have  reverence  toward  the  great  Old 
Masters,  to  gain  a  certain  standard  of  excellence;  and  reverence 
toward  unlikeness  in  others  to  become  ourselves  differentiated 
individualities,  and  in  order  to  respect  the  unlikeness  which  we 
shall  presently  likewise  find  in  the  backward  and  the  young.  So 


58 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


that  the  three  reverences  play  into  one  another  and  are  insepa¬ 
rable  .  .  .  the  first  two  being  indispensable  to  the  third.® 

A  view  of  this  sort,  it  is  evident,  avoids  both  the  selfish 
individualism  preached  as  democracy  in  so  many  rebellious 
quarters  to-day  and  likewise  the  social  submergence 
against  which  such  individualism  protests.  There  is  a 
task  for  all  mankind  to  perform  together.  * 

In  seeking  for  the  highest  good,  I  cannot  separate  my  quest 
so  far  as  it  concerns  myself  from  the  same  quest  so  far  as  it  con¬ 
cerns  others.  On  the  way  to  the  highest  goal,  I  must  take  my 
fellow  beings  with  me.  For  the  higher  life — ^the  germ  of  which 
exists  in  every  man — is  adequately  represented  by  no  man.  The  one 
represents  more  adequately  some  particular  aspect  of  it,  another 
a  different  aspect.  It  follows,  therefore,  that  no  one  can  love 
the  higher  life  unless  he  seeks  to  promote  it  in  others  as  well  as 
in  himself.  All  the  so-called  duties  flow  from  the  principle  of  the 
unity  and  interdependence  of  humanity  in  their  effort  toward 
the  attainment  of  their  goal.^® 

Finally,  it  is  well  to  know  how  this  philosophy  enables  us 
to  meet  the  setbacks  which  life  brings  and  of  which  many 
popular  ethical  teachings  take  but  little  account.  The 
matter  is  important  in  view  of  the  ease  with  which,  for 
example,  the  experience  of  disillusion  about  people  turns 
certain  types  of  enthusiasts  into  pessimists.  It  is  essential 
for  a  democracy  to  be  progressive.  But  nothing  is  more 
common  in  the  history  of  progress  than  the  contrast  between 
the  achievements  and  the  eager  promises  in  which  every 
forward  step  for  mankind  decked  its  appeals.  Every 
reform  was  to  usher  in  the  millennium.  Now  it  was  popular 
education  that  was  to  make  the  earth  a  paradise;  now  it 
was  the  invention  of  steam  by  releasing  men  from  exces¬ 
sive  toil  and  allowing  them  to  improve  their  minds;  now 
it  was  science  and  modern  hygiene;  now  it  was  manhood 
suffrage;  now  it  was  votes  for  women.^^  And  always  the 

»  Adler,  An  Ethical  Philosophy  of  Life,  pp.  243  -ff. 

10  Adler,  Life  and  Destiny,  p.  82. 

11  See  J.  G.  Brooks,  American  Syndicalism,  Ch.  V. 


THE  SPIRITUAL  IDEAL 


59 


world  found  itself,  while  better  off  in  some  respects,  still 
face  to  face  with  the  old  problem,  ^^What  are  men  profited 
if  all  these  goods  are  added  unto  themT’  Sometimes  the 
results  of  enormous  effort  to  get  a  single  needed  reform  are 
so  slight  that  many  people  find  themselves  asking  whether 
the  trouble  is  ever  worth  while.  How  frequently  have 
young  reformers  turned  cynical  or  indifferently  con¬ 
servative  ! 

Here  the  spiritual  philosophy  offers  an  eminently  prac¬ 
tical  counsel:  ^‘Convert  the  very  frustrations  into  the 
means  of  quickening  your  spiritual  insights.  Let  the 
reality  of  the  perfect  life  be  borne  in  upon  you  the  more 
effectively  for  the  very  failure  to  find  your  ideals  attained 
in  the  world  of  space  and  time.  ’  ’  This  experience  is  illus¬ 
trated  every  day  in  the  lives  of  parents.  The  right  sort 
of  mother  does  not  give  up  her  ambitions  for  her  children 
when  her  trust  in  them  is  disappointed.  On  the  contrary, 
the  failure  spurs  her  to  new  effort  because  it  raises  before 
her  mind ’s  eye  more  piercingly  the  picture  of  her  children 
at  the  ideal  best  which  she  has  at  heart  for  them.  She  is 
the  victim  of  illusion  if  she  imagines  that  these  ideal  qual¬ 
ities  are  already  present  in  her  boys  and  girls.  But  her 
ideal  is  no  such  illusion.  She  is  aware  that  it  is  not  yet 
fully  embodied.  Such  is  always  the  nature  of  an  ideal,  and 
besides,  where  an  illusion  would  be  discarded  the  moment 
we  recognize  it  to  be  such,  an  ideal,  on  the  other  hand,  is 
clung  to  with  a  more  passionate  attachment  and  a  more 
penetrating  sight  of  it  as  the  very  consequence  of  the 
failure  to  find  it  completely  incarnated. 

The  difference  needs  to  be  repeatedly  stressed.  Many 
of  the  new  democratic  watchwords  make  a  mistake  in 
assuming  that  the  collective  labors  of  men  to-day  and  to¬ 
morrow  will  more  or  less  rapidly  usher  in  a  reign  of  com¬ 
plete  felicity.  Countless  young  people  are  fascinated  by 
such  pictures  as  Mr.  Wells  draws  of  an  earthly  paradise 


60 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


constructed  in  a  century  or  two.  But  perfect  life,  in  any 
true  meaning  of  the  word,  can  never  be  attained.  ‘‘The 
perfect  society  is  an  apparition  of  light  and  beauty  rising 
in  the  infinite.  ’  ^  The  further  we  climb,  the  more  distant 
the  perfect  goal  will  ever  be  seen  to  be. 

Why  then  keep  on  ?  Because,  in  general,  it  is  enough  to 
know  that  the  perfect  life  is  indeed  perfect.  This  is  suf¬ 
ficient  to  claim  our  allegiance.  The  rightness  of  the  moral 
imperative  needs  no  further  warrant.  But  there  are  two 
special  consequences  which  reward  us  howsoever  our  best 
endeavors  fall  short.  One  is  that  those  who  come  after  us 
will  be  better  fitted  to  do  their  share  of  mankind’s  unend¬ 
ing  task.  These  children  of  ours  will  have  their  own  imper¬ 
fections,  the  thwartings  of  their  place  and  time,  the 
problems  of  their  special  age  to  work  out,  the  frustrations 
of  their  particular  finitude.  But  if  we  pass  on  to  them 
the  best  work  we  have  been  able  to  achieve  and  the  loftiest 
visions  we  have  been  privileged  to  behold  as  a  result  of  our 
strivings,  we  shall  make  it  possible  for  them  to  do  their 
work  better,  to  behold  visions  still  grander  than  ours  and 
with  a  clearness  outshining  our  own. 

And  the  other  consequence  is  that  out  of  our  very  thwart¬ 
ings,  we  learn  to  recognize  anew  how  true  is  the  reality  of 
that  perfect  life,  which,  though  we  never  reach  it,  we  know 
should  set  the  master  light  of  our  seeing. 

As  we  gain  the  loftier  eminences,  we  see  the  snowy  summits 
before  us,  touched  by  the  light  of  the  moral  ideal,  transforming 
themselves  before  our  eyes  into  what  appear  to  be  the  ramparts 
and  the  spires  of  the  Golden  City.  We  climb  still  higher,  and  the 
vision  travels  with  us,  lighting  on  the  next  succeeding  range.  And 
so  on  and  on,  as  we  ascend.^® 

Such  is  the  ethical  ideal  of  progress — endless  effort 
crowned  by  the  ever  truer  sight  of  new  and  more  superb 

12  Adler,  Life  and  Destiny^  p.  7. 

13  i&id.,  p.  99. 


THE  SPIRITUAL  IDEAL  61 

outlooks,  and  more  insistent  recognition  that  the  perfect 
life  is  real  and  commanding. 

So  far  as  the  forward  movement  of  the  human  race  is  con¬ 
cerned,  it  is  the  effort  that  counts,  and  not  the  attainment;  the 
realm  of  space  and  time  can  never  be  the  scene  of  complete  real¬ 
ization.  The  reward  is  the  wider  outlook  upon  the  ultimate  aim, 
the  truer  estimate  of  its  character  as  infinite,  and,  along  with 
this,  the  recognition  of  that  infinitude  of  our  own  nature  which 
enables  us  to  conceive  of  and  to  aspire  to  such  an  aim.^^ 


Ihid.,  p.  11.  “Is  this  conception  of  the  perfect  or  ethical  universe 
anything  more  than  a  picture,  a  dream  product,  an  imaginative  pro¬ 
jection  of  desire  ?  Is  it  real  in  the  sense  that  we  know  other  societies 
or  collectivities — a  church  congregation.  New  York,  America — to  be 
real?”  Readers  who  are  interested  in  philosophic  argument  we  refer 
for  answer  to  the  detailed  exposition  offered  by  Dr.  Adler  in  the  sec¬ 
ond  part  of  An  Ethical  Philosophy  of  Life.  The  argument  in  brief  is 
that  a  thing  is  real  in  the  degree  to  which  our  minds  bring  it  into 
unity  with  everything  else  in  our  experience,  and  the  perfect  moral 
universe  is  the  product  of  these  reality-producing  functions  carried 
out  to  their  ideal  completeness.  Things  are  real  to  us  according  as 
we  are  able  to  convert  their  otherwise  separate  elements  into  unities 
and  make  them  hang  together  with  all  else  we  know.  A  tree  is  real, 
we  say,  because  our  minds  not  only  grasp  the  separate  elements, 
trunk,  branches,  leaves,  etc.,  as  a  unity,  and  not  only  synthesize  the 
sight  perceptions  with  the  touch  perceptions,  but  because  these  two 
unifications  are  themselves  brought  into  harmony  with  further  syn¬ 
theses.  That  is,  the  mind  relates  the  tree  in  place  to  other  things; 
it  says  that  the  tree  exists  here  next  to  other  trees  in  this  park,  in 
this  city,  in  this  country;  my  perception  of  it  at  such  and  such  a 
time  can  be  unified  with  my  other  perceptions  before  and  after.  I 
recognize  it  as  a  dream  tree  when  I  cannot  bring  all  these  different 
elements  into  this  coherence,  this  rationality,  this  consistency  with 
everything  else.  Whenever  we  so  synthesize  differences  as  to  reach 
some  underlying  unity,  our  minds  tell  us  that  we  are  dealing  with 
reality.  The  completeness  with  which  this  synthetic,  or  “reality- 
producing,”  function  works  gives  us  the  degree  of  the  reality. 

Now,  startling  as  it  may  seem  to  advance  from  this  simple  experi¬ 
ence  to  the  idea  of  the  perfect  universe,  it  must  be  said  that  the 
reality  of  the  latter  is  deduced  from  precisely  the  same  operations 
that  convince  us  of  the  reality  of  the  former.  Our  minds  are  so  con¬ 
stituted  that  what  they  synthesize  they  acknowledge  as  real.  The 
ethical  universe  is  real  because  its  components  are  synthesized  to 
perfection.  Indeed,  of  what  other  synthesis  can  we  say  that  its 


62 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


The  bearing  upon  “democracy^’  of  these  introductory 
chapters  is  simply  that  when  we  think  out  the  implications 
of  the  term,  we  find  it  full  of  ethical  meanings  and  end¬ 
lessly  rich  in  suggestions  for  ethical  progress.  In  the 
minds  of  our  youth,  the  word  should  come  to  stand  for  a 
mode  of  life  in  which  self-direction  as  against  autocracy 
is  but  one  of  many  means  to  a  far-visioned  individual  and 
collective  righteousness.  It  should  betoken  a  continued 
faith  in  the  common  man  but  in  man  lifted  above  himself, 
as  Emerson  put  it,  by  the  power  of  principles.  In  these 
transforming  principles  a  democratic  culture  will  find  the 
aims  it  needs.  They  should  be  understood  with  a  clearness 
endlessly  growing.  If  members  of  a  democratic  civilization 
are  to  make  the  most  of  their  contacts,  they  must  know  as 
a  matter  of  living  conviction  the  best  of  reasons  for  prizing 
freedom,  equality,  cooperation.  The  highest  service,  there¬ 
fore,  that  homes,  schools  and  all  the  other  cultural  agencies 


elements  are  related  to  one  another  in  a  perfection  which  is  both 
quantitative  (that  is,  nothing  essential  is  missing)  and  qualitative 
(that  is,  the  relation  of  each  to  each  is  such  that  the  activity  of  each 
supports  and  enhances  the  activity  of  all  the  others)  ?  In  science  we 
synthesize  phenomena  in  such  a  way  as  to  say  that  cause  A  will 
always  produce  effect  B.  In  ethics,  we  synthesize  human  wills  and 
interrelate  them  perfectly.  The  world  of  ideal  relationships  is  the 
outcome.  Its  reality  is  guaranteed  by  the  fact  that  the  reality- 
producing  functions  by  which  the  mind  operates  in  every  sphere  of 
its  activity  are  here  carried  out  beyond  the  world  of  space  and  time  to 
their  utmost  conceivable  completeness.  Unlike  art,  instead  of  synthe¬ 
sizing  but  a  few  elements  and  creating  only  an  apparent  totality,  and 
unlike  science  whose  work  is  limited  to  the  phenomena  of  space  and 
time — with  what  lies  beyond,  science  does  not  attempt  to  deal — the 
ethical  ideal  synthesizes  the  complete  total  of  human  existences;  and 
the  relationship  in  which  it  unites  these  has  the  quality  of  perfect 
give  and  take  described  earlier. 

We  are  dealing  with  a  truth  which  it  is  possible  to  demonstrate  by 
extended  argument.  But  the  most  fruitful  conviction  is  born  of  the 
effort  to  test  it  in  practice.  By  seeking  to  raise  up  in  others  the  sense 
of  their  worth,  we  become  conscious  of  the  worth  in  ourselves  and  of 
the  reality  of  the  perfect  life  in  which  we  are  kin. 


THE  SPIRITUAL  IDEAL 


63 


can  render  is  twofold.  They  can  give  the  chance  to  under¬ 
stand  democratic  fellowship  by  providing  opportunities  to 
practice  it.  They  can  interpret  and  reinterpret  the  sig¬ 
nificance  of  such  living  together  and  win  attention  to 
constantly  wider  and  finer  prospects  of  the  latent  excel¬ 
lences  which  democracy  should  release.  The  object  which 
such  a  civilization  is  to  serve  is  the  spiritual  nature  in  man. 
For  a  task  so  exalted,  nothing  short  of  the  highest  ministra¬ 
tions  within  our  powers  can  ever  be  good  enough. 


Questions  and  Problems 

1.  What  tendencies  in  present  life  encourage  a  slackening  of 
the  moral  fiber?  How  are  these  related  to  respect,  or  lack 
of  respect,  for  human  worth? 

2.  A  sailor  who  stuck  to  his  sinking  ship  said  to  his  comrade, 
*‘You  get  into  the  lifeboat.  You  have  parents  that  need  you.” 
How  does  this  illustrate  the  point  that  service  is  a  tribute  to 
the  ideal  nature  in  the  person  who  receives  the  service  ?  What 
justifies  a  parent’s  sacrifice  for  a  wayward  child?  Show  the 
differences  between  actual  America  and  the  America  for  which 
sacrifices  are  asked.  Define  service  in  terms  of  the  object 
which  merits  it. 

3.  Explain  the  differences  between  remorse  and  the  feeling  of 
regret  for  a  blunder  (see,  for  example,  Rossetti’s  sonnet,  ^‘The 
Lost  Days  of  My  Life”).  What  does  remorse  tell  as  to  the 
existence  of  a  higher  nature? 

4.  Show  from  the  life  of  your  community  that  some  people  are 
more  cultivated  ethically  than  others.  Do  these  differences 
of  degree  contradict  the  view  of  this  chapter?  What  answer 
is  there  to  those  who  hold  that  these  differences  will  always 
exist  ? 

5.  In  which  of  the  reverences  herein  mentioned,  are  democracies 
most  likely  to  fall  short? 

6.  How  can  we  teach  that  the  life  of  duty  is  a  noble  opportunity? 
Why  is  it  so  often  regarded  as  repression  ?  Does  the  emphasis 
on  reverence  necessarily  make  for  undue  strictness  ? 

7.  Show  how  the  motives  which  lead  people  to  tell  the  truth  or 
to  serve  their  country  may  be  of  many  kinds.  Which  are  the 
higher  and  why? 


64  EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 

f 

8.  Illustrate  and  discuss:  “Only  he  who  realizes  that  there  is 
a  portion  of  his  being  which  differs  from  and  even  opposes 
itself  to  his  mortal  constitution  and  its  surrounding  world  .  .  . 
has  become  in  the  full  sense  of  the  word  human  and  has  freed 
his  whole  nature  for  the  tasks  and  problems  of  life.” 

References 

See,  besides  references  quoted  in  text: 

Adams,  G.  P.,  Idealism  and  the  Modern  Age. 

Adler,  Felix,  Essentials  of  Spirituality ;  The  World  Crisis  and 
its  Meaning,  Ch.  IV,  V,  VII,  VIII ;  The  Religion  of  Duty. 

Cope,  H.  F.,  Education  in  a  Democracy,  Ch.  Ill,  VII. 

Salter,  W.  M.,  Ethical  Religion. 


PART  II 


CONTRIBUTIONS  TO  AMERICA’S 
EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS 


CHAPTER  V 


THE  PUBITAN  OFFERING 

To  see  what  ideals  for  our  future  culture  should  be,  let  us 
look  first  at  the  contributions  already  offered.  Religion  had 
something  to  give.  Especially  in  Calvinism,  it  left  a  decided 
impress  upon  the  schooling  and  character  of  large  areas  of 
the  nation.  The  classical  tradition  of  the  English  colleges 
also  played  its  part.  So  did  the  sense  of  nationality  in 
the  nineteenth  century  and  the  contribution  of  modern 
science,  followed  by  the  demand  for  vocational  efficiency 
and  by  the  Pragmatist  educational  philosophy. 

All  of  these  influences  have  brought  not  only  something 
of  value  for  the  spiritual  life  but  also  results  less  worthy  of 
encouragement.  Let  us  examine  both  in  the  light  of  the 
principles  sketched  in  the  preceding  chapters.  A  glance 
at  the  Puritan  contribution,  for  instance,  will  show  why 
so  many  people  who  recognize  the  need,  among  other  things, 
of  a  new  social  ethics  to  deal  with  the  new  problems  of 
group  relationship  find  themselves  obliged  to  look  else¬ 
where  than  to  the  Puritan  ideals. 

No  one  group  has  left  a  stronger  mark  upon  the  national 
life  than  the  Calvinists  represented  by  the  New  England 
Puritans  and  by  the  Scotch-Irish  settlers  in  the  other  Atlan¬ 
tic  colonies  and  the  West.  Asked  to  name  the  most  striking 
traits  that  have  entered  into  the  making  of  the  republic, 
we  should  no  doubt  answer  at  once,  ‘‘Energy,  grit,  indi¬ 
vidualistic  self-reliance.’^  Surely  there  are  no  folk  in 

whom  these  qualities  appeared  more  saliently  than  in  the 

67 


68 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


settlers  of  New  England  and  their  descendants.  “I  early 
resolved,”  said  Jonathan  Edwards,  ‘‘that  while  I  lived,  I 
would  live  with  all  my  might.  ’  ’  This  remark  by  one  of  the 
leading  figures  in  the  spiritual  history  of  America  is  typical. 
The  Puritans  lived  with  all  their  might.  But  it  is  not  for 
this  fact  alone  that  our  country  is  in  their  debt.  Mere 
energy,  howsoever  intense,  is  never  entitled  to  honor. 
Where  the  example  of  the  Puritans  has  been  salutary,  it 
has  been  because  the  aims  to  which  their  energy  was  turned 
had  so  much  of  an  enduring  sublimity.  These  purposes, 
it  is  true,  were  often  allied  with  rigors  which  other  outlooks 
would  have  avoided.  But  in  the  main  something  vital  to 
America  would  be  missing  if  the  rugged  might  of  the  Puri¬ 
tans  had  never  contributed  its  portion. 

The  honor  merited  by  their  splendid  struggle,  as  by  the 
struggle  of  men  everywhere  for  religious  freedom,  is  the 
honor  due  to  the  demand  for  liberty  as  a  means  to  moral 
personality.  They  wanted  to  be  free  in  order  to  become 
certain  types  of  right-acting  men.  The  point  is  capital. 
Men  do  not  risk  their  lives  or  transport  their  families  to  the 
wilderness  in  order  to  follow  the  desire  just  to  do  as  they 
please.  There  must  enter  into  the  desire  something  sacred. 
To  the  Puritans  the  sacredness  was  altogether  real.  They 
refused  to  be  driven  from  an  ideal  of  the  kind  of  living 
they  held  men  were  imperatively  bound  to  follow.  All  the 
grandeur  in  the  tradition  which  they  bequeathed  springs 
from  the  difference  between  such  a  purpose  and  the  liberty 
which  means  the  mere  gratification  of  any  preference  what¬ 
ever.  It  is  one  thing  to  say,  ‘  ‘  I  choose  to  live  as  I  please,  ’  * 
and  quite  another  to  declare  with  William  Bradford,  the 
first  Pilgrim  governor,  “To  keep  a  good  conscience  and 
walk  in  such  a  way  as  God  has  prescribed  is  a  thing  which 
I  must  prefer  before  you  all  and  above  life  itself.”  One 
need  not  be  of  Governor  Bradford  ^s  religious  persuasion  to 
appreciate  the  grandeur  in  a  demand  for  liberty  to  do  the 


THE  PURITAN  OFFERING  69 

very  highest  which  men  think  themselves  called  to  per¬ 
form. 

It  is  not  fair  to  overemphasize  the  repressive  tendencies 
in  Puritanism.  Real  as  they  were,  we  miss  the  point  if 
we  dwell  exclusively  upon  the  suppressions.  These  people 
had  their  constructive  aspirations,  or  they  would  never  have 
undergone  their  iron  self-discipline.  After  that  first  winter 
whose  rigors  carried  off  half  their  number.  Elder  Brewster 
made  the  comment :  “  It  is  not  with  us  as  with  men  whom 
small  things  can  discourage  or  small  discontents  make  them 
wish  themselves  home  again.”  They  had  their  stock  of  the 
usual  human  desires,  but  they  believed  rightly  that  some 
desires  rank  higher  than  others. 

Out  of  this  spirit  came  the  best  in  the  Puritans’  con¬ 
tribution  to  American  life  and  especially  to  education. 
Because  life  was  to  them  a  grimly  serious  business,  they 
set  the  greatest  store  upon  improving  the  mind.  Every 
man  was  to  be  able  at  least  to  read  his  Bible.  The  first 
Governor  of  Plymouth  studied  Dutch,  French,  Latin, 
Greek,  and  Hebrew.  Winslow,  his  successor,  was  the  same 
type  of  man.  He  tells  us  in  his  diary  that  he  carefully 
divided  his  day’s  work  in  order  always  to  have  time  for 
study.  The  Massachusetts  colony  had  been  established  in 
the  wilderness  but  six  years  when  it  founded  Harvard  Col¬ 
lege.  It  is  a  signal  fact  that  wherever  Calvinism  has  been 
strong,  whether  in  Switzerland  or  Holland  or  Scotland  or 
New  England,  it  has  usually  insisted  upon  compulsory 
schooling.  The  law  of  1647  establishing  tax-supported  ele¬ 
mentary  schools  in  Massachusetts  marks  an  important  point 
in  the  history  of  American  education.  Aptly  has  it  been 
said  of  the  Puritans  that  “where  the  land  was  too  stony 
to  raise  corn,  they  planted  schoolhouses  to  raise  men.” 

But  the  book  of  knowledge  is  ampler  to-day  than  it  was 
when  the  Puritans  recorded  their  reading  of  life ’s  meaning, 


70 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


and,  as  we  read  it  now,  we  notice  the  need  for  ideals  of  a 
somewhat  different  sort  from  theirs.  We  can  see  to-daj 
where  these  have  left  upon  American  life  a  harmful  influ¬ 
ence  no  less  real  than  the  beneficial.  To  appreciate  both 
influences,  let  us  look  further  at  the  religious  beliefs  from 
which  they  issued. 

John  Calvin’s  theology  stressed  the  deity’s  unrestrained, 
utterly  absolute  power :  in  electing  men  for  salvation, 
God ’s  choice  was  not  even  conditioned  by  their  merits.  He 
designated  whom  he  pleased.  Man  was  born  bad,  and  the 
best  of  men  were  so  far  from  the  perfect  life  that  their 
merits  were  negligible.  Hence  the  sending  of  grace 
depended  entirely  upon  God.  Now  the  sign  of  its  presence 
was  the  turning  of  the  heart  to  such  righteousness  as  God 
enjoined,  and  here  it  was  that  the  native  fighting  grit  in 
the  Puritans  received  its  encouragement.  It  was  easy  for 
them  to  identify  the  influx  of  power  welling  up  in  them, 
when  their  belligerent  energies  were  aroused,  with  the  pres¬ 
ence  of  God’s  grace.  They  were  acutely  aware  of  an  inner 
power  which  seemed  to  them  to  be  sent  out  of  the  celestial 
depths,  and,  what  is  most  to  the  point,  it  expressed  itself  in 
the  will  that  loved  nothing  so  much  as  battle.  ‘‘Resistance 
to  something,”  says  Henry  Adams,  “was  the  law  of  New 
England  nature.  ’  ’  This  belief  of  the  Puritan  in  the  divine 
origin  of  his  pugnacious  impulses  strengthened  them.  When 
he  felt  the  mysterious  power  surging  within  him,  he  was 
convinced  that  he  w^as  approved  by  God  and  fought  the 
harder.  When  he  had  his  doubts  of  being  among  the  elect, 
instead  of  letting  his  conduct  grow  lax,  he  held  it  more 
strictly  in  hand  in  order  to  be  refortified  in  the  conviction 
that  he  was  to  be  saved. 

Admirably  indeed  did  these  beliefs  enable  the  Puritans 
to  stand  up  against  hardships.  Other  fruits  there  were, 
however,  which  our  age  can  scarcely  welcome.  Puritan 
teachers  had  no  monopoly  of  the  gift  of  “making  every  duty 


THE  PURITAN  OFFERING 


71 


dismal,’’  but  the  austerity  of  their  religious  beliefs 
undoubtedly  aggravated  this  professional  tendency.  There 
was  that  constant  dread  of  death  and  hell-fire  which  cast 
its  horror  over  too  many  lives  among  the  young.  Perhaps 
our  fiber  has  grown  too  soft,  yet  few  parents  in  these  years 
could  write  such  a  letter  as  Jonathan  Edwards  addressed 
to  his  little  girl,  half  of  it  describing  the  kind  of  death  for 
which  be  would  have  her  prepare.  Nathaniel  Mather 
records  the  fact  that  of  manifold  sins,  ‘‘none  so  sticks  upon 
me  as  that,  being  young,  I  was  whittling  upon  the  Sabbath 
day,  and  for  fear  of  being  seen,  I  did  it  behind  the  door.  ’  ’  ^ 
If  we  were  restricted  to  a  choice  between  the  New  England 
conscience  and  moral  laxity,  we  should  undoubtedly  do 
better  to  choose  the  former.  But  our  choices  are  not  thus 
limited,  and  the  Puritan  methods  are  not  the  best.  They 
went  to  unwarranted  extremes.  They  frowned  upon  utterly 
innocent  pleasures.  They  looked  upon  the  love  of  beauty, 
for  instance,  as  altogether  too  close  in  kind  to  wickedness 
to  be  encouraged.  They  were  often  led  to  a  censoriousness 
which  treated  trifles  as  if  they  were  deadly  sins.^ 

The  favorite  method  of  training  children  was  to  look 
upon  their  wills  as  essentially  depraved  and  in  need  of 
breaking:  “There  is  in  all  children  (though  not  alike)  a 
stubbornness  and  stoutness  of  mind  arising  from  natural 
pride  which  must,  in  the  first  place,  be  broken  and  beaten 
down  so  that  the  foundation  of  their  education  being  laid 


1  Quoted  in  E.  D.  Hanscom,  The  Heart  of  the  Puritan. 

2  The  effect  of  the  Puritan  tradition  is  seen  in  the  incident  recorded 
in  Paine’s  biography  of  Mark  Twain,  the  attempted  banning  of 
Huckleberry  Finn  from  a  few  public  libraries  as  an  “immoral  book.” 
The  librarians  were  overconscious  of  the  fact  that  Huck’s  conduct 
showed  too  plainly  the  lack  of  proper  breeding,  but  were  quite 
unaware  that  few  books  have  so  admirably  set  forth  a  cardinal  prin¬ 
ciple  of  American  life,  “Judge  people  on  their  merits,  not  their  birth.” 
Huckleberry  Finn  is  the  son  of  a  vagabond  and  has  all  the  marks  of 
a  neglected  childhood,  but  in  the  essentials,  he  rings  true. 


72 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


in  humility  and  tractableness,  other  virtues  may  in  their 
turn  be  built  thereon.  ’  ’  ®  It  is  true  that  the  child  is  not 
the  angel  which  Rousseau,  who  swung  to  the  opposite 
extreme  from  Calvinism,  would  make  him.  Nor  must  he  be 
beaten  into  ‘  ‘  tractableness.  ^  ^  A  better  view  is  to  regard  the 
child  as  born  with  aptitudes  which  are  neither  good  nor 
bad  in  themselves,  but  which  are  only  the  raw  material  for 
such  shaping  as  their  elders  can  sometimes  give.  One  of 
the  most  helpful  tendencies  in  modern  education  has  been 
to  look  upon  the  impulses  that  olden  days  called  depraved 
as  opportunities  for  the  development  of  positive  excel¬ 
lences.  We  no  longer  think,  for  instance,  that  the  child’s 
desire  to  handle  things  is  wicked.  On  the  contrary,  we 
make  an  educational  use  of  this  desire  in  order  to  train  the 
child  into  a  necessary  acquaintance  with  the  tools  that  he 
will  always  employ. 

We  have  learned  also  that  in  the  long  run  it  is  best  for 
teacher  and  parent  to  try  rather  to  encourage  children  by 
praising  them  for  their  better  achievements  than  to  put  the 
emphasis  upon  blaming  them  when  they  fail.  People 
always  respond  more  willingly  when  they  are  praised  for 
performance.  The  Calvinist  ideals  were  more  inclined  to 
upbraid  the  child  for  error  than  to  give  credit  for  success. 
They  made  the  old-fashioned  school  and  home  overempha¬ 
size  the  educational  value  of  sheer  drudgery.  To  be  sure, 
if  we  must  cultivate  either  the  spirit  that  can  do  hard,  dis¬ 
tasteful  work  or  the  spirit  that  wants  everything  made  easy, 
the  Calvinist  ideal  would  once  more  be  preferable,  but  its 
mistake  lay  in  regarding  the  issue  as  confined  to  these  alter¬ 
natives.  It  forgot  that  some  natures  were  congenial  to  the 
old  severe  discipline  and  were  thereby  made  stronger,  but 
that  the  training  which  toughens  the  stronger  fiber  does 
not  necessarily  strengthen  the  weaker.  The  diet  of  the 


3  Pastor  Robinson,  Children  and  Their  Education. 


THE  PURITAN  OFFERING 


73 


laborer  in  the  ditch  is  not  always  the  best  for  the  child 
or  the  invalid.  There  is  no  need  to  level  down.  The  real 
need  is  to  recognize  the  existence  of  inequality.  The 
Puritan  did  not.  He  forgot  that  his  own  temperament  was  ~ 
of  the  sort  which  rejoiced  in  the  exercise  of  power.  Those 
who  survived  the  discipline  fitted  for  such  types  were  as 
genuinely  interested’^  in  it  as  Professor  Dewey  wants  the 
child  to  be  in  its  tasks  to-day.  Because  the  Puritan  was 
that  sort  of  person,  he  got  from  the  overcoming  of  resist¬ 
ance  a  satisfaction  and  a  training  which  we  must  recognize 
to-day  as  unfitted  for  all  alike. 

The  fact  is  that  Calvinism  was  essentially  a  religion  for 
people  who  felt  a  sense  of  fighting  power.  Other  Protes¬ 
tants  likewise  believed  in  direct  and  individual  salvation. 
But  temperamentally  different,  the  Puritan  gave  his  own 
interpretation  to  the  meaning  of  grace.  The  dominant  force 
in  himself  being  a  consciousness  of  will-power,  it  was  this 
that  he  interpreted  as  the  mark  of  God’s  favor.  In  other 
types,  such  as  the  Quaker,  the  inner  light  pointed  the  way 
to  peace.  In  the  Calvinist  the  inner  command  was  a  call 
to  battle  and  conquest.  His  very  conception  of  God  was 
marked  chiefly  by  the  fact  that  the  deity  himself  was  sheer 
will,  arbitrary,  absolute. 

Now  wherever  the  will  to  power  and  conquest  is  so 
strong,  men  accept  as  their  leading  maxim  the  rule  of  strife 
that  only  the  fittest  should  survive.  This  the  Puritans  did. 
They  believed  that  some  were  born  to  survive,  others  to 
succumb,  and  they  fought  for  a  place  among  the  former. 
They  fought  the  Indians  in  New  England  and  the  uninvit¬ 
ing  climate.  And  when  there  was  no  fight  left  in  the  physi¬ 
cal  environment,  an  apt  field  for  the  will-to-power  was 
found  in  the  world  of  business.  The  hard  ruthlessness 
which  has  gone  hand  in  hand  with  so  many  praiseworthy 
achievements  in  American  business  did  not  spring  chiefly 
from  a  desire  for  the  luxuries  or  the  ease  which  money 


74 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


might  buy.  Unlike  the  European  who  amasses  a  fortune 
in  order  to  retire  as  early  as  possible,  the  American  has 
usually  continued  in  business  out  of  love  for  the  sheer 
exercise  of  power.  He  is  proud  of  the  money  he  makes 
because  it  is  the  token  of  success.  Business  is  a  game,  or 
rather  a  combat  calling  for  ceaseless  answer  to  challenges 
to  the  will.  Awe  for  the  power  of  wall  lies  at  the  base  of 
the  Calvinist  beliefs.  So  does  the  intense  individualism 
and  the  joy  of  battle  which  modern  business  so  notably 
reflects.  All  start  equal,  every  man  for  himself.  ‘  ‘  The  dog 
that  snaps  the  quickest,’^  says  Daniel  Drew,  as  he  reviews 
his  business  career,  ^^gets  the  bone.’^  Let  the  weaker  give 
way,  and  the  better  man  win  the  heaven  of  success  without 
accepting  favors  or  granting  them. 

This  congeniality  between  Calvinism  and  the  spirit  of 
modern  business,  noted  in  other  lands  by  scholars,  has  been 
particularly  close  in  a  country  which  has  so  given  its  major 
energies  to  commerce  as  our  own."^  Where  else  have  the 
traits  of  thrift,  abstemiousness,  persistent  toil,  and  com¬ 
bativeness  been  so  conspicuous  and  so  rewarded  as  in 
America’s  business  men?  Nor  is  it  an  accident  that  their 
business  ethics  has  lagged  behind  their  ethical  views  on 
other  matters.  The  Calvinist  ethics  prescribed  the  most 
intense  absorption  upon  one  department  of  conduct,  the 
inner  life.  It  cared  less  about  the  other  departments.  A 
man  could  play  the  game  of  business  in  the  severest  of 

fashion  and  be  of  clear  conscience.  Because  he  bore  no  ill- 
« 

will  toward  competitors  and  customers,  and,  with  the  rise 
of  the  factory  system,  toward  his  employees,  he  could  be 
as  hard  with  them  as  the  game  allowed.  His  only  attitude 
toward  them  was  that  all  were  struggling  to  survive  and 

4  See  H.  G.  Wood,  “The  Influence  of  the  Reformation  on  Ideas  Con¬ 
cerning  Wealth  and  Property”  in  Property,  Its  Duties  and  Rights 
(Macmillan  Co.,  1922).  See  also  J.  A.  Hobson,  Evolution  of  CapitaU 
ism,  Ch.  I,  II. 


THE  PURITAN  OFFERING 


75 


needed  no  better  treatment  than  each  knew  the  other  would 
give  if  he  had  the  chance.  He  could  even  regard  the 
competitive  principle  as  essentially  righteous:  ability  to 
survive  was  the  proof  of  God ’s  favor. 

Again,  because  Calvinism  is  intensely  individualistic,  we 
see  why  it  has  lent  itself  to  the  tendencies  that  have  so 
marked  the  economic  and  political  life  of  America.  The 
Puritan  wanted  to  stand  alone  and  go  his  own  self-reliant 
way.  Where  things  were  not  to  his  liking,  he  was  quite 
prepared  to  move  on. 

Inevitably  such  people  founded  small  and  dispersed  communi¬ 
ties.  The  Pilgrims  first  went  to  Holland,  but  when  they  could  not 
be  sufficiently  separated  there  .  .  .  they  settled  at  Plymouth,  a 
tiny  little  community  that  maintained  its  separate  government  for 
eighty  years.  They  preferred  not  to  unite  with  the  Puritans  who 
settled  Massachusetts  Bay,  although  the  difference  between  the 
Puritans  and  the  Separatists  seems  to  the  modern  mind  very 
slight.  The  Puritans  themselves  were  no  sooner  established  at 
Boston,  than  they  began  to  quarrel  over  the  precise  nature  of  .  .  . 
the  government  .  .  .  which  they  came  to  America  to  establish; 
and  some  of  them,  being  expelled,  went  off  with  Roger  Williams 
to  found  another  tiny  commonwealth  at  Providence,  while  others 
followed  Thomas  Hooker  into  a  new  wilderness  and  founded  the 
colony  of  Connecticut.  ...  In  origin  and  in  their  ideas  of 
religion  and  government,  all  of  these  people  were  very  much  alike. 
Had  they  chosen  to  live  together  under  one  state,  that  state,  seventy 
years  after  the  first  settlement,  would  have  had  a  population  of 
less  than  eighty  thousand.  But  in  spite  of  the  extreme  hardships 
of  the  wilderness,  in  spite  of  the  danger  from  the  Indians,  these 
eighty  thousand  .  .  .  could  not  possibly  subordinate  themselves 
to  a  single  government.  They  preferred  to  live  separate  accord¬ 
ing  ^‘to  the  strong  bent  of  their  spirits,^^  and  in  five  distinct  and 
independent  states,  each  one  an  ideal  commonwealth.® 

This  trait  has  left  its  impress  npon  American  life  as  a 
whole.  America  puts  a  premium  upon  shifting  for  your- 

5  Carl  Becker,  The  United  States,  an  Experiment  in  Democracy, 

p.  69. 


76 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


self.  Go  your  own  gait  always,  and  if  you  do  not  like 
what  you  find,  go  elsewhere.  Mind  your  own  business,  and 
do  not  let  anybody  else  tell  you  how  to  mind  it.  For  per¬ 
haps  the  majority  of  our  citizens  the  rule  of  life  is  still 
summed  up  in  the  belligerently  individualistic  and  negative 
motto  of  Andrew  Jackson:  ^^Ask  nothing  but  what  is 
right;  submit  to  nothing  wrong. It  was  not  only  the 
presence  of  frontier  conditions  that  made  the  American  so 
intensely  self-reliant  and  so  content  to  case  himself  in  this 
honest  but  ungenial  insulation.  Nor  was  it  solely  his  expe¬ 
rience  with  kings  that  made  him  so  mistrust  interference 
by  the  state.  The  Calvinist  belief  enhanced  this  disposition 
by  giving  it  a  religious  sanction.  It  exalted  the  individuaL 
Souls  were  saved  singly.  Grace  came  to  men  one  by  one, 
and  they  could  neither  help  nor  hinder  one  another  in  the 
process  of  election. 

We  know  better  to-day.  If  salvation  means  becoming  the 
persons  we  ought  to  be,  it  is  obvious  that  we  can  indeed 
make  that  task  harder  or  easier  for  one  another.  The 
father  who  desires  to  do  his  full  duty  by  his  children  cannot 
do  so  as  long  as  he  is  overworked  in  the  mills  and  comes 
home  too  fatigued  to  interest  himself  in  his  children ’s  lives. 
He  cannot  be  to  them  all  that  a  father  should,  if  he  is  com¬ 
pelled  to  bring  them  up  amid  the  temptations  of  the  slums. 
If  he  works  twelve  hours  a  day  in  the  steel  mills,  he  carries 
home  a  brain  too  exhausted  to  be  used  as  a  man  ^s,  a  father  ^s, 
a  citizen’s,  should  be  used.  In  endless  ways  we  can  thwart 
or  promote  one  another’s  proper  performance  of  function. 
The  old  individualism  does  not  satisfy  the  conscience  of 
to-day,  because  it  so  ignores  the  realities  of  social  responsi¬ 
bility. 

The  Puritan’s  individualism  manifested  itseK  in  another 
tendency  which  still  does  its  harm.  Because  he  was  so 
conscious  of  his  own  belligerent  will,  he  was  quick  to  ascribe 
evil  to  the  bad  will  of  other  individuals.  He  made  the  big 


THE  PURITAN  OFFERING 


77 


mistake  of  dividing  men  sharply  into  the  elect  and  the 
damned,  heroes  and  deliberate  villains.  And  what  an 
important  part  was  played  in  his  life  by  his  intense  con¬ 
viction  that  the  devil  was  a  person,  as  actual  a  foe  to  be 
fought  as  the  Indian  lurking  in  the  forest!  When  his 
cattle  sickened  and  died,  he  saw  in  this  calamity  the  work 
of  the  devil  housed  in  a  witch,  and  he  thereupon  killed  the 
witch. 

We  have  already  seen  what  this  meant  in  the  education 
of  children.  If  they  misbehaved,  it  was  because  there  was 
a  devil  in  them.  Hence,  employ  the  rod  to  beat  the  devil 
out.  It  did  not  occur  to  ask  whether  a  child 's  misbehavior 
could  be  due  to  other  causes  than  sheer  badness  of  will. 
The  old-fashioned  disciplinarian,  therefore,  never  tried  to 
find  other  school  activities  for  the  child  than  those  that  had 
been  passed  on  as  the  traditional  material  for  education. 
The  resulting  waste  of  effort  was  enormous.  We  think  of 
the  successes  fostered  by  the  old  type  of  training  but  forget 
how  large  was  the  number  of  those  whom  it  drove  out  of 
school  at  too  early  an  age  and  in  whom  it  engendered  a  life¬ 
long  distaste  for  books.  The  mischief  in  imputing  malad¬ 
justments  to  individual  wickedness  is  that  one  feels  thereby 
exempted  from  any  further  study  of  causes.  If,  for  exam¬ 
ple,  you  could  ascribe  a  child’s  nervousness,  as  they  did  in 
Salem,  to  the  malign  influence  of  a  witch,  what  need  was 
there  to  seek  truer  methods  of  correction  ? 

This  all-too-easy  method  of  putting  the  blame  upon  bad 
persons  is  responsible  for  many  and  many  a  lingering  evil 
in  the  life  of  to-day.®  In  our  politics  we  are  still  prone  to 
denounce  the  ‘‘wicked”  boss  as  the  cause  of  our  political 
disorders,  instead  of  trying  to  see  whether  the  boss  himself 
is  not  symptomatic  of  an  ill  rooted  more  deeply  and  widely 

6  “We  curse  the  obstacles  of  life  as  though  they  were  devils.  But 
they  are  not  devils.  They  are  obstacles.”  John  Erskine,  The  Moral 
Obligation  to  Be  Intelligent,  p.  26. 


78 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


than  in  his  own  wicked  disposition.  In  the  same  way,  we 
raise  the  hue  and  cry  against  the  “wicked’^  profiteer  and 
ignore  the  fact  that  under  our  present  economic  system, 
nobody  has  succeeded  in  drawing  the  line  between  just 
and  unjust  profits.  We  castigate  the  ‘‘greedy’’  employer 
or  the  “wicked”  labor  leader  who  orders  a  strike,  but  we 
do  not  seek  to  get  at  the  reasons  why  so  many  employers 
and  so  many  labor  leaders  respond  in  the  one  repeated  way 
to  certain  situations  in  our  collective  life.  For  a  time,  most 
of  America  was  only  too  ready  to  heap  the  blame  for  all  the 
upheaval  in  Russia  upon  the  wickedness  of  Lenin  and  one 
or  two  others,  quite  regardless  of  the  fact  that  the  situation 
which  led  to  the  Russian  revolution  was  altogether  too 
complex  to  be  ascribed  to  the  bad  purposes  of  one  or  two 
supposed  scoundrels.  Billy  Sunday  attributes  the  decline 
in  church  attendance  to  the  work  of  the  “wicked”  higher 
critics. 

These  Puritanical  explanations  are  altogether  inadequate, 
nay,  they  are  wholly  misleading  in  such  perplexed  times  of 
social  transition  as  the  present.  They  blind  us  to  the  need 
of  probing  to  the  real  roots  of  our  disorders  just  as  truly  as 
the  belief  in  witchcraft  kept  people  from  finding  the  expla¬ 
nations  for  illness  now  known  to  the  men  of  science.  And 
not  least  of  all  in  the  mischief  done  by  thus  putting  the 
blame  on  “bad”  individuals,  we  close  our  eyes  to  the  cir¬ 
cumstance  that  in  many  a  situation  where  blame  is  so  easy, 
we  are  ourselves  implicated.  No  truth  needs  more  frequent 
utterance  to-day  than  that  many  of  our  ills  are  social  in 
origin  and  that  all  of  us,  good  and  respectable  citizens  no 
less  than  those  whom  we  reprobate,  are  involved  in  the  ulti¬ 
mate  responsibility.  Puritanism  is  unfriendly  to  this  social 
point  of  view.  Its  whole  stress  is  individualistic. 

It  fails  therefore  to  provide  a  morality  for  the  dealings 
of  group  with  group.  It  envisages  problems  of  conduct  as 
essentially  problems  in  the  relation  of  the  individual  to 


THE  PURITAN  OFFERING 


79 


God  and  of  one  individual  to  anothero  Certainly  the  duty 
to  improve  man-to-man  relationships  is  by  no  means  out¬ 
grown,  hut  we  need  to-day  to  he  specially  reminded  how 
grave  are  the  problems  that  are  not  merely  affairs  of  man 
to  man,  but  questions  of  the  dealing  of  group  with  group. 
We  cannot  straighten  the  labor  tangle  by  blaming  the  head 
of  the  Steel  Trust  or  the  leader  of  the  workers.  Both  are 
spokesmen  for  classes  or  groups.  And  the  great  need  is  to 
find  ways  by  which  these  varying  group  interests  may  be 
brought  into  fruitful  relation.  In  the  dealing  of  nation 
with  nation,  we  are  still  far  behind  the  morality  we  have 
already  accepted  for  the  relations  of  man  to  man.  It  is 
no  longer  considered  reputable  for  men  to  settle  their  con¬ 
troversies  by  appeal  to  violence.  But  violent  settlements 
Are  still  accepted  as  reputable  for  nations.  The  governors 
of  a  nation  commit  acts  in  their  capacity  of  trustees  which 
they  would  not  commit  as  individuals.  As  individuals  the 
British  Cabinet  would,  no  doubt,  be  willing  to  let  every 
native  of  India  choose  his  own  way  of  living.  But  because 
they  are  charged  with  the  trusteeship  of  an  empire,  they 
employ  methods  of  coercion  which,  as  private  persons,  they 
might  abhor.  The  point  is  simply  that  the  world  has  not 
yet  worked  out  an  ethics  for  the  dealing  of  group  with 
group.  Puritanism  is  notably  deficient  here  because  its 
outlook  is  individualistic. 

Finally,  it  must  be  said  that  Calvinist  ethics  has  no  place 
for  right  relations  among  the  unequals.  Democracy  may 
no  longer  be  regarded  as  the  association  of  equals,  because 
we  know  now  how  exceedingly  unlike  are  the  members. 
Calvinism  was  democratic  enough  in  its  attitude  toward 
those  who  were  equal  in  holding  the  same  Calvinistic  faith. 
It  failed  notoriously  in  dealing  with  the  unlike.  It  restricted 
the  vote  in  the  colonies  to  church  members  and  limited 
church  membership  to  those  whose  orthodoxy  was  certified 
by  the  clergy.  By  this  method  an  actual  majority  were 


80 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


entirely  disfranchised.  All  were  compelled  by  law  to 
attend  the  one  and  only  type  of  worship.^  Preachers  of 
heterodox  opinions  were  imprisoned,  branded  with  hot 
irons,  mutilated,  whipped,  and,  like  the  Quakers,  banished, 
hanged,  and  sold  as  slaves.  It  is  sometimes  said  in  explana¬ 
tion  of  this  attitude  that  men  must  first  get  their  liberty 
secure  for  themselves  before  they  can  think  of  sharing  it. 
Just  as  a  child  must  learn  to  swim  for  itself  before  it 
can  rescue  others  from  drowning,  so  people  who  have  won 
liberty  for  themselves,  the  argument  runs,  had  first  to  make 
certain  that  the  new  state  which  they  founded  was  unified 
and  secure. 

Note  in  this  defense  how  the  Puritan  is  made  to  repeat 
in  his  own  case  the  very  plea  which  had  been  advanced 
against  himself.  When  he  said  that  the  Massachusetts 
churches  were  obliged  to  present  a  solid  front  against  Epis- 
copalianism  abroad  and  heathenism  and  heresy  around,  he 
was  reiterating  what  the  Established  Church  had  said 
regarding  him :  ‘  ‘  We  must  persecute  these  Puritans  because 
we  need  a  united  front  in  defense  of  the  liberties  we  have 
won  against  Rome.’*  In  each  instance — the  history  of 
religion  is  full  of  further  illustrations — unity  was  sought 
by  repressing  differences. 

It  took  long  for  the  world  to  learn  a  better  kind,  the 
unity  won  by  voluntary  affiliation.  The  colony  founded  by 
Roger  Williams  learned  it  and  welcomed  the  diversities 
rejected  elsewhere.  Besought  by  Massachusetts  to  join  in 
persecuting  the  Quakers,  the  Rhode  Island  Assembly  replied 
in  words  forever  memorable:  “We  have  no  law  among  us 
whereby  to  punish  any  .  .  .  for  declaring  their  minds  con¬ 
cerning  things  eternal.”  Rhode  Island  thus  enjoys  the 
distinction  of  being  the  first  place  to  break  the  chain  of  a 
deplorable  precedent  and  to  establish  in  America  a  better 

7  Only  in  1833  did  Massachusetts  pass  a  law  to  end  taxation  for  the 
Congregational  Church. 


THE  PURITAN  OFFERING 


81 


tradition  of  religious  freedom.  There  is  indeed  a  vast 
difference  between  wanting  liberty  for  oneself  alone  and 
wanting  it  to  include  the  liberties  of  others.  The  main 
current  in  the  Puritan  tradition  of  freedom  was  too  aggres¬ 
sively  individualistic  to  seek  the  latter  kind. 

For  the  American  life  of  to-day,  it  is  plain,  therefore, 
that  the  ethical  ideals  transmitted  in  the  Calvinist  tradi¬ 
tion  fail  to  meet  many  essential  needs.  There  is  no  doubt 
that  Puritan  individualism  is  better  than  clinging,  weak 
dependence.  But  in  rejecting  the  former,  we  are  not  neces¬ 
sarily  driven  into  accepting  the  latter.  Our  need  is  an 
ethics  that  recognizes  complexities  with  which  the  Puritans 
were  not  obliged  to  deal  or  which  they  handled  wrongly. 
Our  continent  is  no  longer  the  virgin  wilderness  it  was  in 
their  day;  the  frontier  has  disappeared;  the  free  lands 
have  gone,  owned  often  by  railroads  and  other  trusts.  The 
log  hut  on  the  wide  prairie  has  given  way  to  the  steel  sky¬ 
scraper  in  the  congested  city.  Time  was  when  a  man 
dissatisfied  at  home  could  go  out  beyond  the  frontier  and 
occupy  as  much  land  as  he  chose  to  clear  for  himself.  That 
day  has  passed.  Our  life  is  now  much  more  compact,  and 
we  must  learn  to  live  together  on  a  better  plan  than  the 
sharply  separatist  scheme  of  Puritanism. 

This  is  the  significance  of  the  state  regulations.  Federal 
bureaus,  public  service  commissions,  etc.,  which  were 
scarcely  dreamed  of  even  as  late  as  half  a  century  ago,  and 
which  still  do  little  more  than  touch  the  surface  of  to-day 
problems.  It  explains  the  various  collectivist  philosophies 
which  are  claiming  a  hearing  now  and  which  must  fight 
against  a  tradition  of  individualism  bred  in  the  bone  by 
three  centuries  of  pioneering.  America  has  still  to  learn 
that  the  masterful  type  of  self-assertion  so  necessary  in 
earlier  days  has  become  a  positive  hindrance  in  the  mora 
settled  and  congested  life  of  to-day. 


82 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


The  task,  therefore,  confronting  onr  schools  and  colleges 
would  seem  to  be  fairly  obvious.  To  expect  American  cul¬ 
ture  to  ignore  its  debt  to  the  Puritan  tradition  would  be 
folly.  But  respect  for  the  men  and  women  of  the  past,  if 
it  is  to  be  of  any  vital  service,  must  discriminate.  The 
best  tribute  that  to-day  can  pay  to  the  high  moral  earnest¬ 
ness  of  the  Puritans  is  to  apply  that  spirit,  but  under  the 
leading  of  ethical  concepts  different  from  theirs,  to  the  new 
problems  put  to  us  by  the  changed  circumstances  of  present 
life.  In  recent  years  our  schools  and  our  pulpits  have  been 
rather  inclined  to  forget  that,  aside  from  the  pioneering 
spirit  in  the  original  colonists,  not  all  of  even  the  later 
Puritan  tradition  is  conservative.  The  names  of  such 
reformers  as  Franklin,  Webster,  Garrison,  Phillips,  Sum¬ 
ner,  Mann,  Howe,  not  to  omit  the  name  of  the  best-known 
descendant  of  a  certain  Massachusetts  Lincoln,  remind  us 
that  Puritans  have  not  been  found  wanting  when  lances 
had  to  be  broken  in  behalf  of  progress.  “New  occasions 
teach  new  duties’’  was  the  word  of  a  Puritan  who  gave 
himself  to  the  anti-slavery  cause  in  a  day  when  it  was  most 
unpopular.  We  can  do  far  worse  than  to  lead  a  new  gen¬ 
eration  to  attack  the  problems  of  to-day  with  the  courage 
to  which  the  Puritan  Emerson  appealed  in  the  young  men 
of  his  time : 

You  will  hear  every  day  the  maxims  of  a  low  prudence.  You 
will  be  told  that  the  first  duty  is  to  get  land  and  money,  place 
and  name.  What  is  this  Truth  you  seek?  what  is  this  Beauty? 
men  will  ask  with  derision.  If  nevertheless  God  has  called  any 
of  you  to  explore  truth  and  beauty,  be  bold,  be  firm,  be  true. 
When  you  shall  say:  ‘As  others  do,  so  will  I;  I  renounce,  I  am 
sorry  for  it,  my  early  visions;  I  must  eat  the  good  of  the  land 
and  let  learning  and  romantic  expeditions  go  until  a  more  con¬ 
venient  season,’^  then  dies  the  man  in  you;  then  once  more  perish 
the  buds  of  art  and  poetry  and  science,  as  they  have  died  already 
in  a  thousand  thousand  men.  The  hour  of  that  choice  is  the  crisis 
of  your  history. 


THE  PURITAN  OFFERING  83 

It  yet  remains  for  America  to  demonstrate  how  far  this 
type  of  Puritanism  is  representative. 

Questions  and  Problems 

1.  Our  age  is  charged  with  lacking  the  old  sense  of  sin.  Explain 
reasons  for  the  charge  and  discuss  it. 

2.  “The  Puritan  often  believed  that  the  fate  of  the  Universe 
hung  on  his  opinion.’^  Point  out  the  good  and  the  evil  likely 
to  result  from  such  a  belief. 

3.  Can  one  be  strict  in  matters  of  personal  habit,  for  example, 
smoking,  card-playing,  and  be  unconcerned  about  larger  ethi¬ 
cal  matters,  for  example,  the  new  social  conscience?  Is  the 
reverse  possible?  Illustrate  both  facts. 

4.  How  do  you  account  for  the  fact  that  people  capable  of 
engineering  the  Puritan  Revolution  could  also  be  greatly 
concerned  over  the  “wickedness,’^  for  example,  in  trifles  of 
dress  ? 

5.  Explain  why  Puritanism  has  so  often  been  charged  with 
encouraging  hypocrites.  Does  an  austere  morality  necessarily 
make  for  hypocrisy? 

6.  Give  all  the  reasons  you  can  for  the  fact  that  many  respect¬ 
able  citizens  are  more  shocked  by  the  sight  of  a  drunkard  or 
of  Sunday  baseball  than  by  the  failure  of  a  railroad  or  a 
factory  to  install  safety  devices. 

7.  Should  people  attempt  to  reform  others  by  legislation? 

8.  Read  Robert  Frost’s  poem,  “Mending  Wall.”  Show  how  the 
viewpoint  there  illustrated  works  out  in  American  life. 

9.  In  view  of  the  belief  in  purely  individual  salvation,  how 
can  the  Puritan  missionary  spirit  and  reforming  spirit  be 
explained  ? 

10.  Milton  says  in  his  Areopagitica,  a  plea  for  the  freedom  of  the 
press,  “God  intended  to  prove  me,  whether  I  durst  take  up 
alone  a  rightful  cause  against  a  world  of  disesteem,  and 
found  I  durst.”  Discuss  the  Puritan  characteristics  indicated 
in  this  utterance. 


References 

See,  besides  references  quoted  in  text: 

Bradford,  William,  History  of  Plymouth  Plantation. 
Channing,  Edward,  History  of  the  United  States,  Vol.  I,  Ch.  Xjf. 


84 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


Fiske,  John,  The  Beginnings  of  New  England. 

Lowell,  J.  R.,  New  England  Two  Centuries  Ago. 
Macaulay,  T.  B.,  Essay  on  Milton. 

Mecklin,  J.  M.,  Introduction  to  Social  Ethics,  Ch.  II,  III. 
Ross,  E.  A.,  Sin  and  Society. 

Small,  W.  H.,  Early  New  England  Schools. 

WiNTHEOP,  R.  C.,  Life  and  Letters  of  John  Winthrop. 


CHAPTER  VI 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  NATIONALISM 

Few  forces  in  men ’s  group-life  are  more  potent  than  the 
love  of  country.  To  multitudes,  their  real  religion  is  their 
patriotism.  Like  many  a  religious  worship,  the  love  of 
country  has  its  passionate  attachments,  its  ritual,  its 
hymns,  its  symbols,  its  sacrifices,  its  martyrs,  and  its  intol¬ 
erant  zealots.  No  religion  is  more  sedulously  cultivated  in 
the  churches  of  our  country  than  patriotism  is  cultivated  in 
our  schools.  A  force  so  powerful  can,  as  it  has  already 
done,  contribute  elements  of  inestimable  value  to  the  mak¬ 
ing  of  great  souls,  but  it  needs  to  be  spiritualized;  and, 
therefore,  both  its  wholesome  and  its  hurtful  influences 
require  careful  study. 

The  feeling  for  America  as  a  single  nation  was  not  always 
so  strong  and  common  as  it  is  to-day.  In  the  period  imme¬ 
diately  after  the  Revolution,  people  thought  of  themselves 
as  Virginians  or  New  Yorkers,  and  Washington  was  often 
obliged  to  plead  with  them  to  think  in  terms  of  the  entire 
country.  But  the  national  spirit  emerged  at  last.  It  was 
hastened  by  the  growth  of  the  new  states  in  the  West 
where  people  came  together  from  so  many  different  neigh¬ 
borhoods  on  the  seaboard  that  it  was  no  longer  possible  for 
the  feeling  of  attachment  to  a  single  home  to  dominate. 
The  Civil  War  aided  mightily  in  the  same  direction.  So 
did  the  immigration  which  in  some  quarters  to-day  is  looked 
upon  as  a  disintegrating  rather  than  as  a  unifying  force. 

The  fact  is,  as  Professor  Becker  points  out,  that  the  immi- 

85 


86  EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 

grant  helped  to  strengthen  the  sense  of  national  oneness 
because  by  being  accepted  in  his  adopted  community,  he 
called  attention  to  the  circumstance  that  there  was  a  deeper 
bond  uniting  old  and  new  than  that  which  linked  the  single 
oldest  stock.^  The  original  settlers  in  each  colony  had  been 
united  by  a  common  ancestry  and  geographic  origin.  By 
becoming  a  good  citizen,  the  immigrant  showed  how  Amer¬ 
icanism  consists  less  in  the  distinctive  characteristics  of 
the  original  stock  than  in  attachment  to  the  common  hopes 
and  ideals  binding  old  and  new.  The  point  is  worth  noting 
in  view  of  the  cry  so  frequently  raised  that  our  foreign- 
born  are  a  menace.  The  fear  becomes  less  disturbing  when 
we  reflect  that  whatever  momentary  trouble  some  of  the 
discontented  immigrants  in  our  industrial  centers  may 
occasion,  nothing  is  more  evident  than  the  eagerness  with 
which  their  children  desire  to  become  good  Americans. 
Nay,  it  frequently  happens  that  the  very  attachment  to  their 
old  home  which  some  of  the  immigrants  retain  makes  the 
young  people  all  the  more  desirous  of  taking  on  the  modes 
of  life  of  the  new.^  The  national  sense  is  now  firmly 
rooted. 

To-day,  therefore,  the  school  needs  less  to  teach  patriotism 
than  to  clarify,  to  cleanse,  and  to  refine  the  patriotic  im¬ 
pulses.  These  are  natural  enough.  What  they  require  is 
purification  from  their  unworthier  ingredients,  and  the  way 
to  do  this  is  to  set  their  positive  uses  high.  They  should 
be  put  to  strengthening  and  improving  what  is  best  in 
American  life  with  an  eye  to  better  world  relationships. 

Thus  it  is  important,  in  the  first  place,  to  get  clearly  in 
mind  the  difference  between  love  of  country  as  an  ethical 


1  Carl  Becker,  The  United  States,  an  Experiment  in  Democracy, 
Ch.  VII. 

2  On  various  phases  of  the  immigration  problem,  see  Americanizar 
tion  Studies  (Harper  &  Bros.),  edited  by  Allen  T.  Bums,  and  E.  A. 
Steiner,  On  the  Trail  of  the  Immigrant. 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  NATIONALISM 


87 


motive  and  as  a  mere  herd  impulse.  The  two  are  alike  in 
the  naturalness  of  the  sentiment  for  home  and  for  kind. 
In  ancient  society,  to  this  feeling  was  added  the  pride  that 
made  every  people  exalt  its  own  tribal  deity  above  all 
others.  There  is  a  Japanese  myth  that  after  God  had  made 
Japan,  he  made  the  rest  of  the  world  out  of  the  leavings. 
Something  of  this  spirit  still  clings  to  the  patriotism  of 
great  multitudes  everywhere.  But  attachment  to  country 
is  ethically  motivated  only  when  one  feels  gratitude  and 
knows  why  there  is  reason  to  be  grateful ;  when  one  is  proud 
and  yet  discriminates  between  the  things  of  which  he  may 
justly  be  proud  and  those  of  which  he  may  not,  and,  above 
all,  when  one  feels  a  responsibility  for  the  right  direction 
of  the  national  genius.  At  its  best,  patriotism  is  the 
enlightened  sense  that  one’s  nation  is  the  custodian  of 
something  unique  and  precious.  But  other  nations,  too, 
have  their  gifts,  and  patriotism  is  rightly  directed  when  the 
give  and  take  among  the  nations  is  such  that  what  is  best  in 
each  is  encouraged  and  elevated  by  the  best  in  all  the 
others. 

America  has  much  in  which  it  may  well  rejoice.  Its 
experiment  in  federalism  offers  a  certain  promise  to  the 
world  that  divergent  groups  can  indeed  form  a  union  where 
each,  instead  of  being  overborne  by  the  others,  is  made  the 
better  for  their  active  affiliation.  The  thirteen  colonies, 
jealous  and  watchful  of  one  another,  learned  that  it  was 
possible  to  federate  into  the  United  States  and  profit  from 
the  coming  together. 

America  has  also  sponsored  the  important  truth  that 
people  should  be  rated  upon  their  merits,  not  upon  their 
birth.  Here  again  is  a  principle  by  which  the  world  may 
benefit.  America  has  shown  how  difference  in  origin  need 
be  no  hindrance  to  citizenship  with  full  rights  of  participa¬ 
tion  in  the  country’s  decisions.  It  has  stood  nobly  for  the 
idea  that  people  should  count  for  what  they  are  and  not 


88 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


at  all  for  antecedents  for  which  they  are  not  responsible. 
Hence  it  is  that  in  America  the  bond  uniting  its  various 
peoples  has  proved  itself  so  firm.  It  is  a  bond  based  rather 
upon  a  common  hope  than  upon  a  common  past.  To  empha¬ 
size  origins  in  America  is  to  bring  up  disruptive  memories. 
To  emphasize  the  hope  of  the  future  is  to  keep  in  mind  that 
in  which  all  can  share.^ 

Much  there  is  indeed  that  we  may  count  a  precious  trust 
in  our  keeping  as  a  nation.  But  it  is  necessary  to  remember 
that  often  there  is  nothing  so  dangerous  as  a  people’s  ideal¬ 
isms.  Sheer  wickedness  can  do  its  harm;  yet  how  fre¬ 
quently  can  mistaken  or  perverted  idealisms  do  a  harm  still 
greater !  The  idea  of  being  custodians  of  a  glorious  national 
heritage  may  foster  a  conceit  leading  all  too  easily  to  the 
spirit  which  breeds  wars.  The  very  honesty  of  the  pride 
in  one’s  custodianship  makes  it  sometimes  the  more  peril¬ 
ous.  When  the  Mohammedans  swept  over  Asia,  Africa, 
and  parts  of  Europe  in  the  Middle  Ages,  with  the  Koran 
in  one  hand  and  the  sword  in  the  other,  they  were  the  more 
dangerous  because  they  believed  so  genuinely  in  the  supe¬ 
riority  of  their  civilization.  A  professor  of  international 
law  in  the  University  of  Munich  replied  in  1916  to  a  letter 
of  inquiry  from  the  Dutch  Pacifist  League : 


3  Long  ago,  a  French  immigrant  noted  this  fact  about  his  adopted 
land.  Crevecoeur,  the  author  of  The  Letters  of  an  American  Farmer, 
wrote  in  1782:  “He  is  an  American  who,  leaving  behind  him  all  his 
ancient  prejudices  and  manners,  receives  new  ones  from  the  new  mode 
of  life  he  has  embraced,  the  new  government  he  obeys  and  the  new 
rank  he  holds.  He  becomes  an  American  by  being  received  in  the 
broad  lap  of  our  great  Alma  Mater.  Here  individuals  of  all  nations 
are  melted  into  a  new  race  of  men  whose  labours  and  posterity  will 
one  day  cause  great  changes  in  the  world.”  In  a  later  passage, 
Crevecoeur  recalls  how  intense  in  that  age  were  some  of  the  national 
antipathies  on  the  part  of  the  various  stocks  in  the  new  land.  Hence, 
he  feels  obliged  to  add,  “I  do  not  mean  to  insinuate  any  national 
reflections.  It  ill-becomes  any  man  and  much  less  an  American.” 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  NATIONALISM 


89 


The  whole  course  of  the  war  up  to  the  present  has  shown  that 
we  Germans  have  been  chosen  by  Providence  from  among  all  the 
other  peoples  to  march  at  the  head  of  all  civilized  nations  and 
lead  them  under  our  protection  toward  assured  peace.  For  we 
not  only  have  the  power  and  force  necessary  for  this  mission,  but 
we  also  possess  all  the  spiritual  gifts  to  the  highest  degree;  and 
in  all  creation  it  is  we  who  constitute  the  crown  of  civilization. 

We,  however,  have  our  own  jingoes  who  desire  to  see  the 
American  flag  carried  beyond  our  borders  and  whose  rea¬ 
sons  are  as  honest  as  those  in  this  man^s  statement.  They 
object  to  his  declaration,  because  they  think  that,  if  any 
nation  is  entitled  to  rule  others,  it  is  America.  They  see 
nothing  wrong  in  the  general  spirit  of  such  conceit,  but 
regard  it  as  bad  only  when  it  is  adopted  by  other  people. 
No  beliefs  are  easier  or  more  fraught  with  menace.  Lord 
Curzon  dedicates  his  book,  Problems  of  the  Far  East,  ^^to 
those  who  believe  that  the  British  Empire  is  under  Provi¬ 
dence  the  greatest  instrument  for  good  the  world  has  ever 
seen^^ — a  view  to  which  the  peoples  of  India,  Egypt,  Ire¬ 
land,  not  to  mention  France,  Italy,  and  other  lands,  will 
hardly  subscribe.  Such  sentiments  are  loaded  with  deadly 
explosives.  They  lend  themselves  to  the  ambitions  of  those 
who  want  the  flag  of  their  country  to  protect  profitable 
investments  in  so-called  backward  lands,  and  they  are  the 
more  perilous  because  they  are  allied  with  those  honest 
feelings  of  gratitude  and  pride  on  which  the  war  appeals 
must  always  depend  for  answer. 

There  are  those  who  see  the  harm  done  by  such  patriotism 
and  who  therefore  want  people  to  hold  all  mankind  alike 
in  equal  affection.  But  the  fact  that  patriotism  is  so  often 
the  conceit  of  the  jingo,  or  the  cloak  for  unworthy  objects, 
is  an  argument,  not  for  eradicating  it,  but  for  refining  it. 
Other  excellent  things  may  be  used  in  the  same  way  to 
conceal  or  condone  what  is  wrong.  Religion,  duty,  family, 
honor,  friendship — every  concept  in  the  ethical  vocabu- 


90 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


lary — lends  itself  to  misuse.  Cosmopolitanism  attacks  the 
problem  from  the  wrong  angle.  The  best  way  to  learn  to 
love  outsiders  is  to  begin  by  learning  to  live  aright  with 
the  neighbor  at  home.  It  is  possible  to  be  a  very  eloquent 
brother  to  the  whole  human  race  and  yet  be  a  mighty  poor 
brother  to  your  father  ^s  other  sons.  True  as  it  is  that 
patriotism  is  so  often  an  enlarged  egotism,  cosmopolitanism 
can  be  just  as  bad  and  worse.  Rousseau  weeps  over  the 
sorrows  of  mankind,  but  in  a  heart  as  large  as  his  for  the 
world  in  general,  there  was  no  place  for  concern  for  his 
own  illegitimate  children,  each  of  whom  was  promptly  dis¬ 
patched  at  birth  to  the  foundling  asylum. 

Better  than  cosmopolitanism  is  the  internationalism 
which,  instead  of  slighting  the  special  obligations  to'  one’s 
own  land,  wants  them  raised  to  finer  quality.  A  perfect 
world  order  does  not  demand  the  disappearance  of  distinct 
groups.  It  requires  their  perfect  interaction.  Under  such 
an  ideal,  every  group  in  which  we  live  would  do  its  part  to 
make  us  better  able  to  realize  what  the  most  sublime,  most 
perfect  of  all  group  relationships  is  like.  Because,  for 
example,  we  live  in  families,  family  life  should  be  the  begin¬ 
ning  of  our  spiritual  education.  By  learning  how  to  get 
on  with  brothers  and  sisters,  with  father  and  mother,  with 
kinsfolk,  whom  we  may  either  like  or  dislike,  we  are  pre¬ 
pared  to  get  on  better  with  outsiders.  And  we  learn  chiefly 
out  of  love  for  father  and  mother.  This  natural  affection 
for  our  parents  carries  us  on  as  children  into  right  behavior 
toward  brothers  and  sisters  and  then  toward  those  outside 
our  home.  It  is  the  root  out  of  which  spreads  the  larger 
growth.  Shall  we  cease  to  cultivate  the  home  feelings  in 
order  to  get  children  at  once  to  learn  to  love  all  fathers  and 
mothers?  The  same  reasoning  applies  to  the  cultivation 
of  patriotism.  One’s  country  bears  the  same  relation  to 
mankind  that  a  home  does  to  an  entire  city.  “My  country 
is  my  home  in  humanity.  ’  ’  The  natural  love  we  feel  for  it 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  NATIONALISM 


91 


is  to  be  the  beginning  of  an  education  which  extends  that 
feeling  beyond  the  bounds  of  our  own  land,  but  we  cannot 
extend  what  we  do  not  possess.  We  must  make  the  most 
of  love  for  country  first  before  we  can  love  outsiders  with 
any  sincerity. 

But  there  are  duties  even  where  there  is  little  affection  or 
none.  Hence,  it  is  necessary  to  add  that  sound  internation¬ 
alism  is  rooted,  not  only  in  fondness  for  one ’s  own  country, 
but  in  the  sense  of  obligation  to  it.  A  man ’s  first  duty  is  to 
the  land  in  which  he  casts  his  vote.  He  is  not  asked  to  love 
it  because  it  is  perfect,  for  no  land  is.  But  he  has  a  cit¬ 
izen’s  vote,  and  he  has  gifts  of  his  own  by  which  to  help 
make  his  country  less  imperfect ;  and  he  will  not  use  these 
instruments  properly  unless  he  counts  himself  closer  to  his 
fellow  citizens  than  to  those  who  are  like  him  abroad.  Here 
is  where  his  first  responsibilities  come.  Here  is  the  land 
whose  policies  he  helps,  or  ought  to  help,  decide  directly. 
Here  is  where  he  must  first  work,  even  with  those  for  whom 
he  cares  less  than  for  others  elsewhere  who  are  more  con¬ 
genial. 

Thus  we  see  again  the  mistake  in  emphasizing  the  mere 
fact  of  likeness.  If  similarity  were  the  basis  of  obligation, 
a  man  would  be  entirely  justified  in  casting  off  his  respon¬ 
sibilities  to  those  unlike  him  at  home  in  order  to  become 
one  with  his  fellows  abroad.  Moreover,  the  stress  upon  like¬ 
ness  leads  to  ignoring  the  importance  of  differences. 
Instead  of  minimizing  the  divergences  between  land  and 
land,  let  us  employ  them  for  their  rich  ethical  possibilities. 
Make  the  very  sense  of  difference  contribute  to  a  new  and 
better  kind  of  world  thinking. 

All  important  is  this  need  to  get  used  to  the  idea  of 
respect  for  qualities  unlike  our  own.  Is  the  Anglo-Saxon 
type  better  than  the  French,  the  German,  the  Italian,  the 
Slavic  ?  As  well  ask,  ‘  ‘  Is  air  better  than  water  ?  Is  a  table 
better  than  a  stool?  Is  a  steamship  superior  to  a  railway 


92 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


train  ?  ’  ’  There  comes  a  time  in  a  boy ’s  life  when  he  under¬ 
stands  how  absurd  it  is  to  put  questions  like  these.  He 
knows  that  if  the  world  were  all  land  and  no  water,  we 
should  rightly  never  build  a  single  ship,  and  that  the  only 
reason  why  the  locomotive  is  so  useful  on  land  constitutes 
the  best  of  reasons  for  having  something  different  on  the 
ocean.  Ship  and  train  are  needed  for  their  very  unlike¬ 
ness.  Yet  how  many  lads  who  have  grown  to  be  grand¬ 
fathers  still  think  about  varieties  of  national  culture  as  if 
their  own  peculiarities  were  superiorities !  At  bottom,  this 
is  merely  a  sort  of  expanded  egotism.  Our  own  pride  is 
flattered  by  the  thought  that  *‘our  crowd overtops  the 
others.*  No  fuel  for  the  war-makers  is  more  inflammable. 

If  this  is  admitted,  we  can  lead  our  young  people  to 
better  ideas  of  the  function  of  the  state  than  are  commonly 
accepted.  There  is  nothing  sacrosanct  about  a  government. 
It  is  merely  the  instrument  through  which  a  people  admin¬ 
isters  the  collective  business.  What  then  is  its  function  in 
the  dealing  with  other  nations?  The  old  view  was  very 
simple.  Fifty  years  ago,  if  the  question  was  asked,  ^‘What 
dealings  can  your  country  as  a  whole  have  with  other  coun¬ 
tries  as  wholes  ?  ’  ’  ninety-nine  out  of  a  hundred  would  have 
answered,  ‘‘War  or  alliance  for  possible  war.  Private  indi¬ 
viduals  in  France,  let  us  say,  may  trade  with  private 
individuals  in  England ;  but  if  all  France  is  to  act  as  a  unit 
toward  all  England  as  a  unit,  the  only  contact  can  be  mil¬ 
itary.  ’  ’  Such  is  the  old  conception,  and  we  must  not  forget 
that  millions  everywhere,  even  in  our  land,  still  have  noth¬ 
ing  better.  Think  of  those  who  wake  up  to  the  fact  that 
they  are  members  of  a  nation  only  when  they  see  their  gov¬ 
ernment  directing  a  war:  ‘‘What  have  we  got  a  govern¬ 
ment  for  if  not  to  fight  some  other There  are  still  vast 

4  “The  idealism  of  selfishness  must  keep  itself  drunk  with  a  con¬ 
tinual  dose  of  self-laudation.’^  Rabindranath  Tagore,  “Nationalism 
in  the  West,”  Atlantic  Monthly,  March,  1917. 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  NATIONALISM 


93 


numbers  to  whom  the  sight  of  the  flag  suggests  only  this. 
Fortunately  the  number  is  growing  of  those  who  are  asking 
themselves,  ‘^What  is  wrong  with  the  world  if  this  is  all 
that  the  flag  means  for  so  many  ?  ’  ’ 

Among  other  reasons  is  the  fact  that  the  ordinary  ideals 
of  peace  are  too  negative  to  be  appealing.  The  world  has 
never  had  a  genuine  peace,  but  only  armed  truce  mas¬ 
querading  under  the  name,  because  peace  to  the  great 
majority  still  means  a  string  of  donuts,  ‘‘don’t  fight,  don’t 
destroy  property,  don’t  take  life.”  To  appreciate  how 
meager  is  such  an  ideal,  imagine  individuals  making  it  an 
aim  for  private  life.  Think  of  getting  no  more  out  of 
living  with  one  another  than  the  fact  that  nobody  is  hurt. 
Imagine  calling  an  evening  at  the  theater  a  success  because 
nobody  stoned  the  actors.  Men  justify  wars  on  the  ground 
that  the  wars  are  essential  to  the  attaining  of  certain  pos¬ 
itive  benefits.  But  they  do  not  think  of  peace  as  a  similar 
means  to  specific  goods.  If  peace  is  at  all  worth  while,  it 
is  for  the  sake  of  certain  ends  which  war  imperils.  Does 
the  race,  however,  really  cherish  these  ends  sufficiently? 
If  we  prize  a  bit  of  precious  statuary,  we  take  care  to  place 
it  where  it  cannot  be  destroyed  or  marred.  So  with  the 
aims  of  peace.  If  men  loved  these  as  much  as  they  love 
the  kind  of  national  honor  which  urges  them  so  readily  to 
war,  they  would  make  the  effort  to  turn  the  world  into  a 
peaceful  world. 

Peace,  in  other  words,  is  a  mere  instrument,  a  way  to 
obtain  certain  good  things.  What  things?  If  they  are 
sufficiently  desired,  we  can  be  sure  that  methods  will  be 
found  by  which  to  get  them.  Such  an  ideal  is  the  concep¬ 
tion  that  each  nation  should  develop  its  own  special  type 
of  civilization  in  and  through  the  process  of  helping  other 
nations  'to  be  their  best.  The  surest  test  of  a  good  life  is 
the  way  it  helps  others  to  live  theirs.  There  are  men  who 
live  at  the  expense  of  other  lives.  The  best  live  not  by 


94 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


exploiting  other  life  but  by  promoting  it,  just  as  a  parent 
or  teacher  develops  the  best  in  himself  in  and  through  the 
act  of  calling  out  the  excellence  in  the  child.  The  more 
he  helps  the  child  to  be  really  itself,  the  more  does  his  own 
truer  personality  emerge. 

The  positive  ideal  for  nations  is  no  different  from  that 
for  individuals.  Each  collectivity  as  a  whole  is  to  further 
the  distinctive  excellence  in  each  and  all  the  others.  This 
does  not  mean  that  the  nations  need  one  another  for  busi¬ 
ness,  England  needing  our  wheat  and  beef,  and  we  her 
Sheffield  knives  and  scissors.  Nor  does  it  mean  need  in 
the  sense  of  aesthetic  gratification.  G.  L.  Dickinson,  for 
example,  in  his  Appearances,  speaks  of  the  bad  effect  of 
western  commercialism  on  the  art  of  Burma,  India,  and 
China,  and  wants  the  East  protected  so  that  the  West  can 
enjoy  the  native  Oriental  products.  This  is  indeed  desir¬ 
able.  But  the  ethical  need  is  greater  and  deeper  and 
more  comprehensive.  Humanity  needs  all  its  children  at 
their  highest ;  for  the  very  life  of  the  ethical  ideal  requires 
for  the  perfect  society  the  two  attributes  mentioned  in  an 
earlier  chapter,  quantitative  perfection  (no  life  missing) 
and  qualitative  (each  contributing  by  its  own  excellence  to 
the  different  excellence  of  the  others). 

One  way  to  appreciate  an  ideal  of  this  kind  is  to  try  to 
see  what  effects  our  various  national  lives  have  already 
exercised  upon  one  another.  A  frank  facing  of  these  influ¬ 
ences  would  tell  us  volumes  about  what  is  genuinely  worthy 
in  our  own  lives  and  what  is  unsound.  England,  for  exam¬ 
ple,  has  stood  among  the  nations  for  parliamentary  govern¬ 
ment.  Our  own  system  of  two  legislative  houses  is  borrowed 
from  hers.  Well  may  she  pride  herself  on  the  fact  that  in 
1848  and  the  years  after,  when  constitutional  governments 
were  set  up  on  the  continent,  they  took  as  their  model  Eng¬ 
land’s,  “The  Mother  of  Parliaments.”  But  England  has 
produced  other  effects.  Why,  for  instance,  have  such  num- 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  NATIONALISM 


95 


bers  of  the  Irish  people  regarded  her  with  dislike?  If  I 
were  an  Englishman,  I  should  want  to  know  what  was 
lacking  about  my  country,  with  all  its  magnificent  tradi¬ 
tions,  that  it  deserved,  in  Gladstone’s  words,  ‘‘the  reproach 
of  total  incapacity  to  assimilate  to  ourselves  an  island 
within  three  hours  of  our  shores  that  had  been  under  our 
dominating  influence  for  six  centuries.  ’  ’  ®  The  best  service 
that  Englishmen  can  do  for  their  country  is  to  help  it  more 
and  more  to  rid  itself  of  what  has  produced  this  by  no 
means  creditable  effect. 

Let  us  look  at  Germany  from  the  same  point  of  view. 
Let  us  call  up  the  Germany  that  was  respected  throughout 
the  world  before  A.ugust,  1914,  the  Germany  from  which 
England  learned  the  social  insurance  measures  which  she 
adopted  twelve  years  ago,  the  land  to  whose  universities 
students. resorted  from  all  over  the  globe.  It  was  a  country 
to  which  other  people  undoubtedly  looked  for  inspiration 
in  music.  The  leaders  of  our  greatest  orchestras  in  America, 
the  men  who  popularized  good  music  over  here,  came 
chiefly  from  the  land  of  Goethe  and  Beethoven.  But 
Germany ’s  influence  upon  the  world  has  assuredly  not  been 
entirely  beneficent.  The  task  of  the  new  German  nation 
is  to  develop  those  gifts  which  will  bless  the  world  as 
truly  as  the  work  of  Beethoven  has  done. 

What  of  our  own  country?  We  have  been  trying  the 
boldest  and  widest  experiment  in  political  democracy  our 
earth  has  ever  beheld.  Never  before  was  the  attempt  made 
on  so  large  a  scale  by  a  people  of  diverse  stocks  to  govern 
themselves  without  a  hereditary  privileged  class.  We  are 
proud  of  the  fact  that  political  and  religious  refugees  from 
other  lands  fled  here  to  give  their  boys  and  girls  the  chance 
to  stand  erect  in  the  dignity  of  free  manhood  and  woman¬ 
hood.  We  have  reason  to  feel  gratified  at  the  fact  that  the 


6  Quoted  in  John  Morley,  Gladstone j  Vol.  II,  p.  243. 


96 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


Chinese  Republic  asked  for  Americans  to  help  draft  her 
constitution  and  administer  the  new  government.  It  is  a 
fact  not  so  generally  known  as  it  should  be  that  our  coun¬ 
try  played  a  leading  part  in  the  establishment  of  the  Jap¬ 
anese  public-school  system.  Nor  is  it  widely  known  that 
Mexican  teachers  have  been  sent  here  to  study  our  schools. 

Yet  honesty  compels  us  to  ask  ourselves  why  our  democ¬ 
racy  has  not  won  the  full  respect  which  we  might  suppose 
the  peoples  of  Europe  ought  to  feel  for  anything  so  benefi¬ 
cent.®  Intelligent  men  on  the  other  side,  who  cherish  free¬ 
dom  as  ardently  as  we,  fail  somehow  to  see  the  great  thing 
about  the  land  we  ourselves  love.  Why  ?  Carlyle  was  not 
alone  in  his  criticism  of  our  vainglory  and  our  apparent 
fondness  for  boastful  mediocrities  as  office-holders.  We  can 
still  read  the  same  criticism  from  intelligent  students  every¬ 
where.  A  Danish  student  insisted,  a  few  years  ago,  that  in 
every  one  of  the  European  countries,  where  the  American 
idea  entered,  it  debauched  the  public  life  instead  of  better¬ 
ing  it,  by  introducing  what  Emil  Faguet  called  ‘Hhe  Cult 
of  Incompetence.  ’  ’  ^ 

Now  we  may,  if  we  will,  simply  let  these  criticisms  anger 
us;  we  may  reject  them  as  due  to  prejudice,  conceit  or 
envy.  If  we  are  sensible,  we  shall  ask  ourselves  instead, 
‘‘Why  is  it  that  the  thing  which  we  ourselves  so  rightly 
love  is  not  visible  to  these  others?  What  must  we  still  do 
to  make  the  influence  of  American  democracy  as  welcome 
elsewhere  as,  for  example,  Italian  art  is  throughout  the 
whole  world  If  we  are  to  be  of  greater  service  to  man¬ 
kind,  we  must  labor  unceasingly  to  make  our  type  of  civili¬ 
zation  far  better  than  it  is.  Our  schools,  for  instance,  can 

6  Charles  A.  Beard’s  Cross-Currents  in  Europe  To-Day  contains  a 
chapter  on  the  new  democracies  set  up  in  the  Old  World.  America 
will  profit  from  studying  what  these  new  countries  took  over  from 
our  experience  and  what  they  decided  to  reject.  See  also  H.  L. 
McBain  and  Lindsay  Rogers,  The  New  Constitutions  of  Europe. 

^  Jensen,  Politics  and  Crowd  Morals. 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  NATIONALISM 


97 


certainly  be  improved  greatly.  Surely  we  do  not  want 
Japan  and  Mexico  to  imitate  our  large  classes  and  the 
machine-like  methods  which  these  big  classes  require.  A 
few  of  our  states  demand  that  before  a  child  leaves  school 
to  go  to  work,  he  shall  have  completed  eight  grades,  but 
most  require  only  six  grades  or  even  less.  Do  we  wish  to 
stand  among  the  nations  as  a  land  of  sixth-graders,  with 
the  stamp  of  only  a  six-years’  schooling  upon  our  news¬ 
papers,  our  theaters,  our  politics,  our  international  deal¬ 
ings?  For  the  sake  of  a  better  contribution  to  the  world 
order,  we  must  make  stiU  better  what  is  good  in  our  gift. 
We  have  already  set  one  example  by  our  beginnings  in  pupil 
self-government.  The  writer  recalls  the  delight  with  which 
he  read  in  a  book  by  a  German  educator  some  dozen  years 
ago,  a  strong  endorsement  of  the  American  system  of  pupil 
self-government  and  a  plea  to  the  German  school  author¬ 
ities  to  substitute  this  method  for  the  militaristic  methods 
then  in  vogue.® 

We  have  not  yet  realized  how  essential  it  is  to  make  the 
most  of  our  own  special  gifts.  A  glance  at  the  influences 
shaping  educational  practice  in  our  country  will  show,  for 
example,  how  little  thought  we  have  given  to  making  our 
culture  as  distinctive  of  our  own  democratic  life  as,  let  us 
say,  French  civilization  is  of  France.  We  borrowed  our 
kindergartens  from  Germany,  but,  though  their  principle 
of  self -directed  activity  would  seem  to  be  quite  the  kind 
which  a  self-governing  republic  would  apply  in  all  the 
grades  through  which  future  citizens  pass,  it  is  only  in 
exceptional  schools  that  the  self-government  idea  has  been 
extended  beyond  the  initial  year.  It  takes  more  trouble  to 
run  a  school  on  democratic  lines  than  on  the  pattern  of  a 
military  camp.  But  our  interest  in  a  better  thing  is  always 
measured  by  the  price  we  are  willing  to  pay.  We  borrowed 


8  F.  W.  Foerster,  Schule  und  Charakter. 


98 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


aims  and  methods  from  Pestalozzi  and  Herbart  until  a 
relatively  recent  criticism  by  the  Pragmatists  forced  some 
schools — by  no  means  all — to  make  place  for  the  child ’s  own 
initiative.  Our  secondary  schools  became  our  “poor  boys^ 
colleges/’  but  until  comparatively  few  years  ago,  instead  of 
setting  themselves  to  prepare  youth  better  for  the  needs 
of  their  own  American  life,  they  allowed  themselves  too 
often  to  adopt  curricula  and  methods  designed  to  prepare 
for  college.  And  the  colleges,  as  we  shall  see  in  the  next 
chapter,  were  largely  under  the  spell  of  the  English  ideal 
of  culture  for  the  ‘  ‘  gentleman.  ’  ’  To-day,  from  many  influ¬ 
ential  quarters  the  demand  is  going  up  to  train  the 
“masses”  into  a  narrow  vocational  efficiency,  as  if  the 
supplying  of  hordes  of  skilled  factory  hands  and  clerks 
were  the  chief  need  in  a  democratic  schooling. 

American  culture  is  still  far  from  clear  with  regard  to 
the  opportunities  implied  in  its  own  democratic  ideals.  We 
have  borrowed  from  Europe,  sometimes  wisely,  sometimes 
less  so.  Accustomed  more  or  less  to  look  across  the  Atlantic 
for  our  cultural  inspirations,  we  have  forgotten  that  though 
we  have  much  to  learn  from  other  lands,  they  also  have 
much  to  learn  from  us,  if  we  only  are  bold  enough  to  use 
the  greater  freedom  there  is  in  our  greater  youthfulness. 
Some  of  our  practices  have  been  quite  distinctive,  for  exam¬ 
ple,  our  own  experiments  in  pupil  self-government,  our 
coeducation,  the  growth  of  our  public  high  schools  and  state 
universities,  especially  in  the  West. 

Where  we  have  made  beginnings  so  valuable,  we  can 
hardly  do  more  wisely  than  to  improve  upon  them.  Sup¬ 
pose  our  candidates  for  office  came  before  us  and  said: 
“We  do  not  promise  to  reduce  taxes.  On  the  contrary,  if 
you  elect  us,  we  will  increase  the  taxes,  because  we  need 
more  money  for  our  public  schools.  We  will  eliminate 
waste,  but  we  need  more  money  to  reduce  the  size  of  our 
altogether  too  large  classes,  to  engage  more  teachers,  to  pay 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  NATIONALISM 


99 


larger  salaries,  to  provide  more  playgrounds,  libraries,  and 
the  like.’’  The  response  to  appeals  of  this  kind  would 
measure  the  strength  of  our  desire  to  be  worthy  guardians 
of  our  precious  gift. 

We  shall  need  higher  conceptions  of  the  function  of  the 
state.  Hitherto  the  chief  idea  of  the  American  state  has 
been  that  it  must  prevent  domestic  crime  and  foreign  ag¬ 
gression.  Only  slowly  has  the  idea  grown  that  its  business 
is  also  to  prevent  sickness,  ignorance  and  inefficiency.  We 
have  been  too  used  to  thinking  of  it  as  merely  an  umpire 
charged  with  seeing  that  the  more  able  emerge  prosperous 
from  the  struggle  for  existence.  We  need  to  make  its 
functions  much  more  positive  and  constructive  along  the 
lines  mentioned  elsewhere  in  these  pages. 

At  bottom,  everything  depends  on  what  our  future  cit¬ 
izens  are  taught  as  to  the  ultimate  uses  people  can  make  of 
their  being  united  into  nations  at  all.  One  such  use  is  indi¬ 
cated  in  these  resolutions  adopted  by  the  National  Educa¬ 
tion  Association  at  its  1915  session : 

We  have  made  great  progress  in  industry  and  scientific  work, 
but  little  as  yet  in  establishing  justice,  good  will,  and  the  reign 
of  law  among  nations.  .  ,  .  The  heroes  of  each  nation’s  history 
have  been  those  who  have  done  the  greatest  injury  to  other  nations 
and  who  have  killed  the  greatest  number  of  foreigners  rather  than 
these  who  have  conferred  the  greatest  benefits  on  mankind.  The 
people  of  each  and  every  nation  need  to  sink  their  nationalism  in 
a  larger  internationalism  and  to  learn  and  teach  the  true  place  of 
their  country  among  the  nations  of  the  earth.  The  task  would 
not  be  so  difficult  if  once  it  were  resolutely  undertaken.  The 
people  of  different  nationalities  do  not  by  nature  hate  one  another, 
and  many  illustrations  of  international  friendliness  manifest 
themselves  at  any  opportunity.  The  masses  of  the  people  do 
not  want  war,  but  peace.  .  .  . 

In  particular  the  teaching  in  history  and  geography  needs  to 
be  entirely  redirected.  The  emphasis  now  placed  on  the  deeds  of 
soldiers  should  be  shifted  to  those  who  have  created  the  best  of 
our  civilization  and  rendered  the  most  lasting  benefits  to  man- 


100 


EDUCATION  FOB  MORAL  GROWTH 


kind.  The  emphasis  now  placed  on  wars  should  be  shifted  to 
the  gains  to  civilization  made  in  the  intervals  between  wars,  and 
war  should  be  shown  in  its  true  light  as  a  destroyer  of  what  civil¬ 
ization  creates.  The  fact  that  war  is  the  breakdown  of  law  and 
order  and  civilized  society  should  be  made  clear.  The  shaping  of 
a  new  international  policy  looking  ultimately  toward  international 
peace  and  good  will  and  the  preservation  of  the  slow  gains  of 
civilization  calls  for  educational  statesmanship  of  a  high  order 
and  will  require  time  .  .  .  but  it  represents  the  greater  con¬ 
structive  task  now  before  those  who  direct  instruction  in  every 
nation.® 

Not  the  least  important  task  should  be  a  more  pointed 
teaching  of  the  need  of  constructive  service  in  peace  times. 
The  idealisms  of  war  are  inherently  spectacular  and  require 
less  interpretation  and  encouragement  than  the  quieter, 
undramatic  types  whose  excellence  is  not  so  immediately 
apparent.  It  is  a  mistake  to  say  that  the  idea  of  service 
was  brought  into  being  by  the  war.  Devoted  offerings  to 
America  had  been  made  long  before  the  war  brought  the 
occasion  for  the  more  dramatic  types  of  display.  At  Wash¬ 
ington  and  elsewhere  scientists,  for  example,  were  giving 
up  chances  of  higher  salaries  in  order  to  work  for  public 
health,  improved  agriculture,  conservation  of  our  forests, 
and  other  natural  riches.  In  our  factory  cities,  men  and 
women  worked  in  the  settlements;  doctors  gave  freely  of 
their  skill  to  the  handicapped;  men  of  civic  zeal  fought 
inefficiency  and  crookedness  in  public  officers.  We  have 
long  had  our  teachers  to  whom  their  daily  work  was  emi¬ 
nently  a  patriotic  service,  our  various  missionaries  and 
advocates  of  necessary  but  as  yet  unpopular  causes. 
Chances  for  the  exercise  of  public  spirit  were  simply  multi¬ 
plied  and  made  more  striking  when  the  war  came. 

Let  us  see  to-day  that  our  young  people  know  how  rich 
are  the  opportunities  for  the  services  of  peace.  They  will 

®  See  also  H.  E.  Barnes,  “History  and  International  Good  Will,*' 
}Iation,  March  1,  1922,  p.  251. 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  NATIONALISM 


101 


be  better  for  acquaintance  with  the  work  of  pioneers  in 
science,  the  bravery  of  explorers,  the  courage  of  men  like 
Dr.  Lazear  and  Dr.  Reed  in  stamping  out  yellow  fever,  the 
work  of  crusaders  in  philanthropy  like  Samuel  Gridley 
Howe,  of  educators  like  General  Armstrong  in  Hampton 
Institute.  It  reflects  no  credit  upon  us  that  young  people 
are  graduated  from  American  schools  without  the  slightest 
acquaintance  with  even  the  names,  much  less  the  labors  to 
build  up  our  public-school  system,  of  men  like  Horace  Mann. 
Nor  do  they  know  that  Thomas  Jefferson  thought  so 
highly  of  education  as  a  public  service  that  among  the  three 
benefactions  which  he  desired  to  have  recorded  on  his  tomb¬ 
stone,  he  mentioned  his  founding  of  the  University  of 
Virginia.  He  did  not  include  his  having  been  President  or 
his  consummation  of  the  Louisiana  Purchase.  Is  there 
not  something  significant  in  this  reminder  to  his  country¬ 
men  of  the  honor  due  to  those  who  work  for  better  minds  ? 

Especially  should  the  spirit  of  service  be  linked  to  the 
performance  of  the  vocational  tasks.  Our  youth  were 
taught  during  the  war  that  in  war  time  people  must  farm, 
must  mine,  must  build,  and  do  other  work  not  primarily 
for  personal  profit  but  for  the  good  of  the  country.  This 
idea  we  must  not  permit  to  be  stored  away  until  the  next 
war.  More  insistently  than  ever  we  must  associate  the  idea 
of  patriotism  with  the  thought  of  serving  the  country 
through  one’s  daily  work.  It  need  not  sound  so  very 
strange  to  be  told  that  when  you  are  young,  you  can  render 
distinctly  patriotic  service  by  fitting  yourself  to  do  with  the 
highest  skill  the  most  useful  work  which  your  talents  can 
perform.  Put  this  ethical  consecration  of  vocational  aims 
in  the  foreground  and  keep  it  there.  Encourage  every 
possible  practice  in  cooperation  for  worthy  objects,  in  order 
that,  from  earliest  childhood,  young  people  may  learn  by 
experience  what  splendid  things  can  be  done  by  working 
together  for  upbuilding  aims.  Make  the  most  of  the  whole- 


102 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


some  delight  in  team-work.  Professor  James’  idea  of  the 
“Moral  Equivalent  of  War”  is  a  challenge  which  waits  for 
skillful  teachers  and  far-visioned  school  boards  to  help  give 
it  practical  eifect.^® 

That  we  must  teach  our  students  to  admire  the  achieve¬ 
ments  of  other  lands  than  our  own  goes  without  saying. 
How  little  do  they  know,  for  instance,  that  ours  was  not  the 
only  country  which  fought  for  its  liberty,  but  that  the 
Dutch,  the  Italians,  the  Germans,  and  the  Swiss  also  had 
their  wars  of  liberation !  And  how  much  less  do  they  know 
of  the  distinctive  contributions  to  civilization  made  by 
each  people  and  of  the  fact  that  in  modern  life  each  has 
become  heir  to  a  fund  enriched  by  all!  Every  teacher 
should  have  learned  at  least  this  much  from  the  study  of 
the  history  of  education,  for  there  is  scarcely  a  single  people 
that  has  not  made  some  offering  to  the  educational  ideals 
accepted  to-day.  The  hope  of  a  better  world  order  lies  in 
our  pupils’  taking  to  heart  the  lesson  of  all  these  interde¬ 
pendences.  The  cooperation  of  Pasteur,  the  French  dis¬ 
coverer  of  the  germ  origin  of  diseases,  of  Dr.  Koch  of 
Berlin,  and  of  the  American,  Dr.  Trudeau,  in  combating 
tuberculosis  is  but  a  single  instance  of  the  fact  that  the 
progress  of  mankind  requires  the  constant  interchange  of 
gifts  among  all  the  nations.  Most  of  all  is  this  true  in 
matters  of  the  spirit. 

Bertrand  Russell  makes  the  suggestion  on  this  head  that 
the  history  textbooks  of  the  future  should  be  edited  by 
international  commissions  to  correct  the  tendency  to  over¬ 
prize  the  achievements  of  one’s  own  country  and  to  ignore 
or  to  slight  those  of  other  lands.^^  In  America  we  can 
perhaps  take  a  step  in  this  direction  by  inviting  representa- 

10  William  James,  Memories  and  Studies.  “The  Moral  Equivalent 
of  War”  is  also  published  separately  by  the  Association  for  Inter¬ 
national  Conciliation,  407  West  117th  Street,  New  York. 

11  Bertrand  Russell,  Why  Men  Fight,  p.  162. 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  NATIONALISM 


103 


tives  of  OTir  various  immigrant  stocks  to  cooperate  with 
native  writers  of  our  histories.  Specific  opportunities  for 
the  teachers  of  literature,  foreign  languages,  and  the  social 
studies  are  mentioned  in  a  later  chapter.  This  at  least  all 
schools  can  do :  remembering  that  a  true  pride  will  be 
benefited  by  knowing  what  other  people  think^about  us  and 
that  just  because  America  has  so  much  to  give  mankind, 
we  must  know  how  the  gift  can  be  improved,  we  shall  do 
well  to  recommend  to  our  boys  and  girls  books  on  America 
by  foreign  observers.  Bryce’s  American  Commonwealth 
has  justly  won  a  place  for  itself.  The  introductory  word 
breathes  a  specially  admirable  spirit.  The  comparisons  in 
his  Modern  Democracies  should  also  be  known.  Letters 
from  America,  by  Rupert  Brooke,  the  poet,  who  died  in 
the  Gallipoli  campaign,  criticizes  some  of  our  shortcomings, 
but  always  with  kindly  appreciation.  So  does  the  genial 
America  Through  the  Spectacles  of  an  Oriental  Diplo¬ 
matist,  by  Wu  Ting  Fang.  Other  useful  criticisms  will  be 
found  in  G.  Lowes  Dickinson’s  Appearances,  and  John  G. 
Brooks’  As  Others  See  Us. 

It  is  always  to  be  understood,  of  course,  that  any  adverse 
criticism  of  our  national  life  must  never,  and  assuredly 
least  of  all  in  the  presence  of  the  young,  be  made  in  a  spirit 
of  mere  fault-finding.  The  leading  thought  should  always 
be  that  America’s  contribution  to  world  civilization  ought 
and  can  be  made  vastly  better.  Perhaps  the  most  hopeful 
feature  of  our  life  is  that  our  national  traits  are  still  so 
markedly  the  traits  characterizing  youth.  Our  country  is 
still  young  in  its  zest  for  freedom  as  release  from  overt 
control,  in  its  resentment  at  assumptions  of  intellectual 
superiority  in  others,  in  its  impulsive  generosity  (and  its 
equally  impulsive  outbursts  of  unfairness  toward  objects  of 
dislike),  its  abundant  good  humor,  its  enthusiastic  direct¬ 
ness  and  heartiness.  Its  failings,  like  its  resources,  are 
those  of  a  great  boy.  We  still  have  worlds  to  learn,  but  it 


m  EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 

is  our  good  fortune  to  possess  a  native  idealism  and  a 
vigor  which  will  attack  the  giant  tasks  of  the  days  ahead,  we 
may  be  sure,  with  the  daring,  the  persistence,  and  the  good 
sense  for  which  they  call. 

#  Questions  and  Problems 

1.  How  do  you  account  for  the  fact  that  morality  as  between 
individuals  is  more  honored  than  as  between  nations? 

2.  Show  how  religious  loyalty  and  love  of  family  may  impel 
to  both  worthy  and  unworthy  types  of  conduct.  What  do 
both  types  tell  about  the  underlying  ideal? 

3.  Discuss  the  case  for  non-resistance  as  presented  in  J.  H. 
Holmes^  New  Wars  for  Old  and  Bertrand  RusselFs  Justice 
in  War  Time. 

4.  What  would  be  the  effect  of  such  unified  world  teaching  as 
H.  G.  Wells  proposes  in  The  Salvaging  of  Civilization^  Is 

emphasis  upon  unity  the  chief  essential? 

5.  If  it  is  true  that  people  prefer  peace  to  war,  how  do  you 
account  for  the  frequency  of  wars  ?  Are  national  antipathies 
inborn  ? 

6.  Discuss  the  statement  that  wars  have  a  permanently  ennobling 
effect. 

7.  In  the  Middle  Ages,  Genoa,  Florence,  and  other  Italian  cities 
were  separate  states  and  often  warred  upon  one  another. 
Wbat  can  be  learned  from  their  union  in  a  single  nation? 

8.  Read  the  account  of  General  Armstrong's  work  for  negro 
education  in  F.  G.  Peabody’s  Education  for  Life.  Why  do 
many  people  fail  to  regard  such  endeavors  as  patriotic 
service  ? 

9.  Describe  peace-time  opportunities  for  the  spirit  of  courage, 
adventure,  and  team-work  displayed  in  war. 

10.  Make  a  study  of  national  expenditures  for  war.  Wbat  is 
being  done  to  promote  peace? 

References 

See,  besides  references  quoted  in  text: 

Adler,  Felix,  The  World  Crisis  and  its  Meaning. 

Angell,  Norman,  The  Fruits  of  Victory. 

Bagley,  W.  C.,  “Education :  The  National  Problem,”  New  Eepub^ 
lie,  December,  1917. 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  NATIONALISM 


105 


Burns,  C.  D.,  The  Morality  of  Nations. 

Gibbons,  H.  A.,  Introduction  to  World  Politics. 

Irwin,  Will,  The  Next  War. 

Krebhiel,  Edward,  Nationalism,  War  and  Society. 

Libby,  F.  J.,  ‘‘War  on  War,”  pamphlet  published  by  the  National 
Council  for  Prevention  of  War,  Washington,  D.  C. 
Marvin,  F.  S.,  The  Century  of  Hope,  Ch.  VII,  XIII. 

Palmer,  Frederick,  The  Folly  of  Nations. 

Tagore,  Rabindranath,  “East  and  West”  and  “The  Nation,”  in 
Creative  Unity. 


CHAPTER  VII 


THE  TRADITION  OF  CLASSICAL  CULTURE 

The  “cultured  person’^  in  America  has  usually  meant 
the  college  graduate,  and,  until  comparatively  recent  years, 
there  were  few  who  were  bold  enough  to  question  the  time- 
honored  ruling  of  the  colleges  on  what  the  conception  of 
culture  should  include.  The  chief  instrument  must  be  the 
study  of  Latin  and  Greek.  This  idea  still  obtains  in  many 
quarters,  and  it  has  exercised  no  slight  influence  upon  the 
aims  which  even  elementary  and  secondary  schools  have 
come  to  adopt.  There  is  much  to  be  said  in  its  favor.  To 
banish  all  study  of  the  classics  would  be  an  offense  against 
the  idea  of  respect  for  diverse  cultures.  But  there  are  also 
important  reasons  for  breaking  new  paths.  Both  reasons 
will  perhaps  be  clearer  if  we  look  first  at  a  few  facts  of 
history  and  at  the  claims  asserted  for  the  classical  training 
by  its  friends. 

Our  classical  curriculum  came  to  America  from  England. 
The  first  American  school  for  which  the  public  was  taxed 
was  the  grammar  school  started  at  Dorchester  in  1639,  to 
prepare  for  entrance  to  Harvard.^  The  first  public  primary 
schools  in  Massachusetts  came  eight  years  later  by  a  law 
which  also  prescribed  the  setting  up  of  a  “grammar  school 
...  to  instruct  youth,  so  far  as  they  may  be  fitted,  for 
the  university.  ^  ^  It  was  upon  this  Massachusetts  model 
that  most  of  our  public-school  system  was  patterned. 

1  The  Boston  Latin  School  was  begun  in  1635  or  1636. 

106 


TRADITION  OF  CLASSICAL  CULTURE  107 


Now  the  early  American  “grammar”  school  was  a  trans¬ 
planted  English  “public”  school.  So  was  the  college 
imported  from  England.  In  that  country  its  purpose  was 
the  training  of  gentlemen  and  clergymen,  and  to  this  end 
the  classical  curriculum  worked  admirably.  It  fitted  the 
clergymen  to  read  the  New  Testament  and  the  Fathers  in 
the  original  tongue.  It  acquainted  them  with  approved 
models  of  exact  reasoning  and  stately  discourse.  It  intro¬ 
duced  them  to  an  important  part  of  the  historic  background 
out  of  which  their  religion  had  risen.  For  the  gentleman 
this  curriculum  provided  the  means  for  cultivating  his 
mind  on  the  large  sentiments  proper  to  his  station.  ^  ‘  That 
life  has  not  been  spent  idly,”  says  Landor,^  “which  has 
been  mainly  spent  in  conciliating  the  generous  affections  by 
such  pursuits  and  studies  as  best  furnish  the  mind  for  their 
reception.  ’  ’ 

For  this  task  the  classics  were  well  fitted.  They  held  up 
long-tested  models  of  decorum,  correctness,  restraint,  and 
taste.  They  were  valued  for  their  usefulness  in  curbing  the 
tendency  of  the  young  to  go  their  own  gait  regardless  of 
the  experience  of  the  past.  They  served  as  correctives 
against  mere  freakishness  and  the  folly  of  regarding  every¬ 
thing  old  as  outworn  and  everything  novel  as  necessarily 
best.  The  need  to  remember  this  debt  to  the  past  is  con¬ 
stantly  uttered  by  the  classicists.  “If  we  owe  all  to  those 
who  begot  and  brought  us  forth,”  says  Petrarch,^  “what 
shall  we  say  of  our  debt  to  the  parents  and  fashioners  of 
our  minds?” 

Sir  Gilbert  Murray  puts  the  case  for  the  classics  in  these 
striking  words :  ^ 

2  “Lord  Brooke  and  Sir  Philip  Sidney/’  in  Imaginary  Conversa¬ 
tions. 

«  Quoted  in  J.  H.  Robinson,  Petrarch^  p.  206. 

4  Gilbert  Murray,  Religio  Orammatici,  pp.  7,  20,  48.  See  also 
A.  F.  West,  The  Value  of  the  Classics,  and  Paul  Shorey,  “The  Assault 
on  Humanism,”  Atlantic  Monthly,  June,  July,  1917. 


108 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


The  scholar  secures  his  freedom  by  keeping  hold  always  of 
the  past,  and  treasuring  up  the  best  out  of  the  past  so  that  in 
a  present  that  may  be  angry  or  sordid,  he  may  call  back 
memories  of  calm  or  of  high  passion;  in  a  present  that  requires 
resignation  or  courage,  he  can  call  back  the  spirit  with  which 
brave  men  long  ago  faced  the  same  evils.  He  draws  out  of  the 
past  high  thoughts  and  great  emotions;  he  also  draws  the 
strength  that  comes  from  communion  or  brotherhood.  .  .  .  The 
chains  of  the  mind  are  not  broken  by  any  form  of  ignorance; 
the  chains  of  the  mind  are  broken  by  understanding.  So  far 
as  men  are  unduly  enslaved  by  the  past,  it  is  by  understanding 
the  past  that  they  may  hope  to  be  freed.  But  it  is  never  really 
the  past — the  true  past — ^that  enslaves  us ;  it  is  always  the 
present.  .  .  . 

The  Philistine,  the  vulgarian,  the  great  sophist,  the  passer  of 
base  coin  for  true,  he  is  all  about  us  and  always  he  has  his  out¬ 
posts  inside  of  us,  prosecuting  our  peace,  spoiling  our  sight, 
confusing  our  values,  making  a  man’s  self  seem  greater  than 
the  race  and  the  present  thing  more  important  than  the  eternal. 
Prom  him  and  his  influence  we  And  our  escape  by  means  of  the 
grammata  into  that  calm  world  of  theirs,  where  stridency  and 
clamour  are  forgotten  in  the  ancient  stillness,  where  the  strong 
iron  is  long  since  rusted  and  the  rocks  of  granite  broken  into 
dust,  but  the  great  things  of  the  human  spirit  still  shine  like 
the  stars  pointing  man’s  way  onward  to  the  great  triumph  or 
the  great  tragedy;  and  even  the  little  things,  the  beloved  and 
tender  and  funny  and  familiar  things,  beckon  across  gulfs  of 
death  with  a  magic  poignancy,  the  old  things  that  our  dead 
leaders  and  forefathers  loved,  viva  adhuc  et  desiderio  pulcriora. 

There  is  no  denying  the  weight  of  such  considerations  as 
these.  They  have  been  reinforced,  however,  by  other  more 
or  less  conscious  reasons  not  quite  so  deserving  of  per¬ 
manent  regard.  In  the  land  from  which  America  ^s  classical 
training  was  imported,  the  public  schools  and  colleges  were 
intended  chiefly  for  the  upper  classes.  As  the  British 
Empire  grew,  the  classical  training  operated  beautifully  to 
prepare  members  of  these  circles  for  service  in  colonial 
administration.  The  administrator  had  to  be  a  gentleman 
either  by  birth  or  breeding.  He  was  obliged  to  be  magnani- 


TRADITION  OF  CLASSICAL  CULTURE  109 


mously  free  from  mercenary  concern.  Training  in  the 
classics  helped  him.  It  undoubtedly  played  its  part,  along 
with  other  causes,  in  building  up  the  British  tradition  of  a 
civil  service  uncorrupted  by  money.  But  its  function  as 
an  instrument  of  caste  is  only  too  apparent.  It  is  evi¬ 
denced  in  these  remarks  by  an  Englishman  on  the  objects 
of  the  public  preparatory  schools,  and  the  point  applies 
just  as  well  to  the  institutions  for  which  these  schools 
prepare :  ® 

The  growth  of  imperial  responsibility  demanded  a  constant 
succession  of  men  .  .  .  quick  to  undertake  and  execute  affairs 
of  Government,  with  the  instincts  of  a  ruling  caste;  and  here 
were  a  group  of  schools  nursing  the  stock  whence  such  men 
could  be  selected.  I  think  it  may  be  claimed  without  undue  con¬ 
ceit  that  this  great  task  has  been  worthily  performed.  .  .  .  The 
specific  social  training  of  the  public  schools  .  .  .  provided  the 
specific  qualities  in  habit  and  moral  character  which  have  enabled 
the  Englishmen  to  rule  inferior  races  both  with  firmness  and 
with  sympathy.  .  .  . 

It  was  the  curriculum  which  was  later  to  prove  itself  so 
happily  adapted  to  the  needs  of  the  gentlemen  adminis¬ 
trators  of  the  British  Empire  that  was  carried  over  to 
America.  It  played  no  slight  part  in  shaping  the  practices 
of  our  colleges,  high  schools,  and  elementary  grade  schools, 
or  ‘‘grammar”  schools,  as  they  were  long  called.  That 
it  performed  an  excellent  service  in  American  life  it  would 
be  unfair  to  deny.  In  many  graduates  it  helped  to  breed 
the  magnanimity  and  disinterested  preferences  on  which 
Aristotle  insists  as  the  marks  of  gentlemanly  distinction. 
Their  lives  as  well  as  their  speech — to  paraphrase  Lowell — 

5  J.  J.  Findlay,  “The  English  Public  School,”  in  Types  of  Schools 
for  Boys,  p.  293.  Huxley  gave  these  schools  a  much  less  deferen¬ 
tial  characterization.  He  said  in  his  Liberal  Education:  “The 
richest  of  our  public  schools  supply  gentlemanly  habits,  a  strong 
class-feeling  and  eminent  proficiency  in  cricket.”  H.  G.  Wells’  criti¬ 
cism  in  Joan  and  Peter  is  a  piece  of  spicy  journalism,  but  with 
enough  truth  to  warrant  attention. 


110  EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


were  nobler  for  having  lunched  with  Plutarch  and  supped 
with  Plato.  As  against  the  narrow  vocational  training,  a 
preparation  for  a  specialized  skill,  undoubtedly  it  was  bet¬ 
ter  to  prepare  for  the  art  of  living  itself. 

Except  the  smaller  size,  no  lives  are  round. 

These  hurry  to  a  sphere,  and  show,  and  end. 

The  larger  slower  grow,  and  later  hang — 

The  Summers  of  Hesperides  are  long. 

Why  not,  therefore,  retain  the  study  of  the  classics  as  our 
chief  cultural  agency  ?  Even  though  it  was  originally  meant 
for  only  the  upper  classes  of  society,  would  not  democracy 
profit  by  extending  to  all  classes  a  privilege  so  valuable? 
To  level  upward  is  certainly  better  than  the  opposite  course. 

There  are  important  reasons,  however,  for  removing  the 
classical  training  from  its  old  dominance  and  for  keeping 
it  for  only  the  few  who  know  why  they  elect  it.  That  the 
classics  furnish  the  best  educational  material  for  all  minds, 
or  for  all  good  minds,  has  by  no  means  been  proved;  the 
old  callings  for  which  they  trained  are  no  longer  the  only 
leading  careers;  and  the  effect  of  the  classical  culture  has 
been  in  the  main  too  conservative. 

All  minds  are  not  alike,  and  it  is  unwarranted  to  say 
that  those  that  excel  in  the  classics  are  the  best  minds. 
Such  a  belief  arises  from  thinking  only  of  the  successes 
and  ignoring  the  failures.  May  not  the  successes  attributed 
to  classical  training  be  due  to  the  fact  that  the  students  were 
a  select  class,  possessed  of  the  special  gift  required  for  this 
particular  proficiency  ?  ®  It  is  possible  that  Lincoln  might 
have  been  greater  if  he  had  been  bred  upon  the  classics,  but 
it  is  just  as  likely  that  he  might  not,  or  even  that  he  might 
have  been  less  the  Lincoln  whom  we  honor.  Nor  has  the 
case  for  general  mental  discipline  been  proved.  It  still 

6  “We  prefer  as  students  those  who  have  included  Latin  and  Greek 
among  preparatory  studies.”  Statement  signed  by  fifty  professors 
in  the  various  studies.  A.  F.  West,  The  Value  of  the  Classics,  p.  172. 


TRADITION  OF  CLASSICAL  CULTURE  111 


remains  to  be  demonstrated  that  the  general  discipline 
acquired  in  the  study  of  Latin  and  Greek,  if  any,  is  unat¬ 
tainable  through  other  studies/ 

In  the  second  place,  law,  medicine,  the  ministry,  politics, 
are  no  longer  the  few  leading  careers  in  our  country.® 
Science  has  opened  up  a  number  of  new  callings  for  trained 
minds.  So  has  modern  business.  Journalism,  teaching  by 
the  laity,  industry,  agriculture,  all  otfer  to-day  vocational 
prospects  of  a  new  kind.  Compare  our  modern  scientific 
agriculture,  for  example,  with  the  methods  employed  in  the 
colonial  days  by  the  gentlemen  farmers  of  the  South. 
More  careers  than  those  for  which  the  classics  gave  specific 
preparation  are  possible  to-day,  and,  for  the  masses,  our 
high  schools,  once  designed  to  prepare  for  college,  are  them¬ 
selves  taking  the  place  of  that  institution. 

Hence,  the  old  culture  no  longer  preeminently  meets,  as 
it  originally  did,  the  leading  special  needs  of  educated 
men.  It  was  an  education,  too,  that  only  the  few  had  the 
time  to  acquire.  The  sheer  preliminary  work  requisite  to 
the  reading  of  Latin  and  Greek  as  literature  takes  more 
years  than  the  majority  of  our  students  can  afford.  Unless 
they  can  learn  the  classics  as  a  literature  to  be  loved,  the 
time  spent  on  preparation  might  well  be  put  to  other  uses.® 


7  Prof.  Paul  Shorey  summarizes  the  disciplinary  values  as  “ration¬ 
ality,  precision,  urbanity,  humanized  and  humanizing  emancipation 
from  primitive  foolishness,  parochialism,  and  fanaticism.”  Atlantic 
Monthly,  June,  1917.  He  insists  that  upon  this  point  the  consensus 
of  educated  opinion  must  be  taken  as  final.  Is  it,  however,  so  indis¬ 
putable  that  all  or  most  students  of  the  classics  are  conspicuously 
rational,  precise,  urbane,  etc.? 

8  Dr.  Alexander  Meiklejohn,  president  of  Amherst  College,  objects 
to  the  statement  that  the  chief  function  of  the  early  American 
college  was  to  train  for  the  ministry.  See  The  Liberal  College,  p.  17 
See,  however,  W.  H.  Small,  Early  New  England  Schools,  pp.  87,  88. 

9  “In  an  age  when  the  world  needs  the  sustaining  energies  of  all 
the  resources  of  humanism,  it  is  a  little  bit  unhumanistic  for  the 
classical  materials  to  hold  themselves  apart  from  the  world,  demand¬ 
ing  a  special  recognition  for  their  superior  values.”  J.  K.  Hart, 
Democracy  in  Education,  p.  269. 


112 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


But  the  chief  count  against  the  classical  training  is  that 
in  the  main  it  has  helped  to  keep  the  ‘‘cultured’’  classes, 
even  though  they  have  not  always  been  the  wealthy  classes, 
too  closely  wedded  to  the  side  of  the  existing  order.  That 
we  need  intelligently  conservative  influences  in  modern 
society  may  readily  be  taken  for  granted.  If  ever  we 
doubted  the  usefulness  of  minds  exercised  in  habits  of 
sobriety,  careful,  deliberate  judgment,  calm,  unbiased  scru¬ 
tiny  of  the  facts,  we  need  only  picture  the  riotous  confusion 
that  would  follow  if  every  scheme  of  social  reform  were 
carried  out  as  quickly  as  every  advocate  of  it  desires.  And 
yet,  even  when  all  weight  has  been  given  to  the  value  of 
the  conservative  influence,  is  it  an  overstatement  to  say 
that  too  many  college  graduates,  as  a  result  of  the  dignified 
aloofness  fostered  by  their  culture,  have  kept  out  of  pro¬ 
gressive  undertakings  in  which  they  were  needed  ? 

Surely  no  one  would  say  that  clergymen,  for  instance,  are 
apt  to  be  as  a  class  notably  openminded,  liberal,  forward- 
looking.  They  are  brought  up  on  a  schooling  like  that  of 
the  gentleman,  designed,  that  is,  to  lift  their  minds  above 
the  ordinary  cares  of  common  men.  Their  studies,  as  a 
rule,  deal  with  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  and  with  the 
golden  past,  not  at  all  with  the  changing,  troublesome,  often 
sordid  present  all  about  them.  Superior  minds  are  not  bred 
by  ignoring  current  problems. 

In  this  aloofness  from  current  concerns  the  studies  of  the 
classical  students  were  like  those  of  the  clergy.  Run  over 
the  leading  reforms  of  the  nineteenth  century.  Review  the 
history  of  the  scientific  movement  and  the  democratic  move¬ 
ment  and  note  the  indifference  or  the  hostility  with  which, 
save  for  a  few  illustrious  exceptions,  the  college  graduates 
responded.  Most  of  the  members  of  the  educated  classes 
in  America  and  Great  Britain  proved  themselves  on  the 
side  of  things  as  they  were.  Although  a  minority  of  their 
number  did  valiant  service  in  the  championship  of  causes 


TRADITION  OF  CLASSICAL  CULTURE  113 


now  recognized  as  just,  their  followers  did  not  come  either 
from  the  colleges  or  the  pulpits  in  anything  like  the  num¬ 
bers  that  a  less  conservative  training  might  conceivably 
have  furnished. 

The  clash  between  modern  ideals  of  democratic  progress 
and  the  type  of  thinking  encouraged  by  the  traditional 
schooling  was  referred  to  in  a  recent  address  by  Lord 
Haldane : 

The  problem  raised  for  Oxford  and  Cambridge,  especially,  by 
the  admission  of  the  whole  nation  to  political  power  is  stiffer  than 
many  of  us  like  to  think.  The  essence  of  the  intention  of  those 
universities  for  the  two  centuries  before  the  twentieth  was  to 
equip  the  young  men  of  the  class  then  ruling  for  “service  in 
Church  and  State.”  Until  fifty  years  ago  almost  every  Cabinet 
Minister,  like  almost  every  Bishop,  had  been  at  Oxford  or  Cam¬ 
bridge.  Thanks  to  the  inherent  independence  and  generosity  of 
the  human  mind,  they  also  reared  involuntarily  many  of  the 
most  ardent  and  successful  leaders  of  democratic  revolt  against 
that  class  rule.  When  the  democratic  fiood  began  to  rise,  the 
older  universities,  by  the  aid  of  some  pressure  from  the  State, 
made  terms  with  it  by  abating  certain  abuses  and  by  making  it 
more  easy  for  a  few  quick-witted,  resolute,  and  adaptable  youths 
of  no  fortune  to  make  their  way  into  these  fastnesses  of  Con¬ 
servatism,  become  sharers  in  the  opportunities  to  be  found  there, 
and  so,  as  a  rule,  to  detach  themselves  from  their  own  class  and 
be  naturalized  in  the  class  previously  ruling. 

Why  is  it  that  to-day  so  much  of  the  business  of  advo- 

'^0  Manchester  Guardian  'Weekly,  July  8,  1921.  It  is  true  that 
many  an  illustrious  innovator  has  been  brought  up  on  the  classical 
training.  The  revival  of  learning  was  itself  an  innovation,  a  weapon 
against  medievalism.  Petrarch  assailed  the  reputation  of  Aristotle. 
Erasmus,  Rabelais,  Montaigne,  Milton,  the  thinkers  of  the  En¬ 
lightenment,  were  trained  in  classical  studies  and  advocated  con¬ 
tinuing  them. 

Perhaps  the  explanation  is  that  these  men  had  minds  of  “the 
inherent  independence”  mentioned  by  Lord  Haldane;  and  because 
the  classical  arsenal  contains  weapons  for  both  the  conservator  and 
the  innovator,  very  probably  they  were  more  drawn  by  the  latter. 
The  challenge  to  classical  educators  to-day  is  to  teach  their  subjects 
in  such  a  way  that  their  liberali2ing  possibilities  become  realities. 


114  EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


eating  needed  changes  is  left  to  the  nnscholarly  agitator, 
the  fellow  with  a  grievance  whose  views  are  but  too  likely 
to  be  distorted  by  the  sense  of  personal  wrong  ?  Often  on® 
hears  things  which  are  true  misstated  or  exaggerated  out 
of  all  proportion  by  soap-box  orators.  But  when  one  is 
about  to  turn  with  repugnance  from  the  street  agitator, 
it  would  be  well  to  ask  why  so  much  of  the  task  of  quick¬ 
ening  the  public  conscience  is  left  to  his  type.  Where  are 
the  men  and  women  who  have  had  the  advantages  of  a 
college  training,  who  have  had  the  opportunity  to  weigh 
the  facts,  not  as  participants  in  the  struggle  themselves, 
but  as  persons  qualified  to  speak  just  because  they  are  not 
tempted  to  be  partisans?  Why  are  they  not  taking  the 
lead?  If  the  work  of  helping  our  stricken  world  to  better 
human  relationships  needs,  as  it  does  under  democracy,  the 
cooperation  of  all,  let  us  ask  ourselves  what  is  lacking  in 
our  conception  of  culture — our  humanizing’’  culture — 
that,  with  only  few  exceptions,  this  tale  of  aloofness  on  the 
part  of  the  cultivated  can  be  told  of  needed  new  causes 
everywhere  in  our  country. 

Bertrand  Russell  throws  an  interesting  sidelight  on  this 
question  in  his  book.  Why  Men  Fight,  He  criticizes  the 
education  of  the  gentleman  on  the  ground  that  it  produces 
a  worship  of  “good  form.”  Now,  good  form,  he  says,  is 
the  behavior  which  minimizes  friction  among  one’s  peers. 
It  seeks  to  avoid  the  disharmonies  in  behavior  among  the 
equals  in  the  upper  classes.  It  is  perhaps  unfair  to  add,  as 
he  does,  that  it  “delicately  impresses  inferiors  with  a  con¬ 
viction  of  their  own  crudity  ’  ’ ;  but  there  is  ample  testimony 
that  the  type  of  culture  designed  to  minimize  the  friction 
at  the  top  has  failed  to  produce  right  attitudes  toward 
those  below,  toward  the  working  classes,  toward  the  Hin¬ 
doos,  toward  the  Mohammedans,  toward  the  other  pagans 
over  whom  the  Oxford  gentleman  is  called  to  rule.  It  is 
impossible  to  get  the  right  attitudes  toward  inferiors  with- 


TRADITION  OF  CLASSICAL  CULTURE  115 


out  disturbing  that  harmony  which  the  ordinary  type  of 
culture  seeks  to  preserve  in  the  circles  at  the  top.^^ 

The  appeal  which  that  harmony  made  at  its  best  we  can 
quite  understand.  It  went  with  a  way  of  life  in  whose 
favor  there  was  much  to  be  said.  But  the  shock  of  the 
recent  world  tragedy  and  the  shadows  cast  by  the  possibil¬ 
ity  of  further  catastrophe  are  stirring  many  consciences 
to-day  with  a  new  uneasiness.  It  does,  indeed,  seem  a  pity 
that  the  serenities  loved  by  the  older  generations  have  to 
be  interrupted  by  the  clamor  of  immediate  world  problems. 
The  atmosphere  of  quiet  study  remote  from  the  disturbing 
passions  of  the  market  place  and  the  council  chamber,  the 
opportunity  to  ponder  tranquilly  the  thoughts  of  ^^the 
best  and  wisest  minds  at  their  best  and  wisest  moments,’^ 
the  chance  to  reflect  upon  things  of  eternal  value  through 
long  days  and  nights  of  calm  communion  with  the  nobility 
enshrined  in  beloved  writings,  explain  the  wistful  desire 
of  many  a  scholarly  mind  to  see  the  tradition  of  classical 
culture  perpetuated.  Moreover,  the  old  and  established 
ways  acquire  a  grace  of  their  own,  a  harmony  and  dignity 
to  which  the  newer  modes  cannot  so  soon  attain  and  in  con¬ 
trast  with  which  the  blundering  awkwardness  of  the  new 
becomes  painfully  apparent.  But  what  if  the  price  of 
devotion  to  an  established  beauty  be  the  withdrawal  of 
our  educated  classes  from  an  intelligent  understanding  of 
disturbing  problems  which  cry  with  peculiar  urgency  to-day 
for  well-informed  minds? 


11  Recall  the  remarks  on  page  109  about  the  ‘instincts  of  a  ruling 
class,”  “ruling  inferior  races,”  etc.  The  same  writer  tells  more 
than  he  supposes  in  these  further  words  about  the  schools  for 
English  gentlemen:  “A  medical  man  who  practises  in  high  social 
circles  finds  it  to  his  advantage  to  have  been  educated  in  the  exclusive 
social  atmosphere  of  these  schools.”  “The  Church  of  England,  the 
historic  Established  communion,  has  recruited  a  large  number  of 
clergy  from  this  quarter,  while  the  non-conformist  communities, 
Methodist,  Congregational,  and  the  like,  have  only  small  connection 
with  this  grade  of  society.”  J.  J.  Findlay,  i&id.,  pp.  289,  288. 


116  EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


This  peril  is  inherent  in  the  gentlemanly  culture.’^ 
There  is  a  danger  in  America  of  being  so  captivated  by  the 
graces  which  the  gentleman’s  education  throws  over  the 
life  of  those  in  the  chosen  circles  that  we  may  forget  how 
little  it  accords  with  the  needs  of  the  truly  best  minds  of 
to-day.  We  want  the  generous  detachment  from  mercenary 
aims ;  we  want  the  sobriety,  the  calmness,  and  the  caution ; 
but  what  is  the  gain  if,  as  a  result,  our  educated  classes 
fail  to  reflect  upon  essential  problems  at  all?  What  if, 
as  so  often  happens,  they  do  not  see  the  problems,  or,  if 
they  do,  dismiss  them  as  merely  wicked  or  foolish  unrest? 

Here  is  one  instance.  It  is  selected  from  the  labor  sit¬ 
uation,  because  that  problem  bulks  so  huge  in  our  thinking 
at  this  time,  even  though  it  is  not  at  all  our  only  problem. 
A  few  years  ago,  in  a  course  of  lectures  delivered  in  the 
Sheffield  Scientiflc  School  at  Yale  University,  the  head  of 
a  large  engineering  house  told  the  young  men  that  after  the 
labor  troubles  in  Lawrence,  Massachusetts,  a  number  of 
manufacturers  in  another  part  of  the  country  cooperated 
to  send  an  investigator  to  that  city  in  order  to  report  to 
them  on  possible  lessons  they  might  learn.  The  man  came 
back  with  the  rather  disconcerting  item  in  his  report  that 
though  the  men  in  the  offices  in  Lawrence  knew  how  to  buy 
and  make  and  sell,  they  knew  less  about  their  own  labor 
problem  than  did  the  unspeakable  labor  leaders  who  had 
conducted  the  strike.^^  The  men  at  the  bottom  knew,  for 
example,  how  the  increase  in  the  cost  of  living  affected  the 
quantity  of  milk  and  eggs  that  the  worker  was  able  to  buy 
for  his  children,  and  they  knew  the  result  upon  the  mind 
which  the  weaver  brought  to  his  loom  every  morning. 
These  men  at  the  bottom  knew  at  least  this  item  about  the 
civilization,  the  factory  civilization,  in  which  we  happen  to 
be  living :  they  knew  that,  in  spite  of  the  violence,  the  break- 


12  H.  L.  Gantt,  Industrial  Leadership. 


TRADITION  OF  CLASSICAL  CULTURE  117 


ing  of  contracts,  and  the  other  discreditable  facts  in  the 
history  of  trade-unionism,  the  union  had  in  its  favor  the 
highly  important  fact  that  it  had  prevented  the  creation 
of  a  permanently  servile  class.  The  men  in  the  offices 
did  not  know  this  consequential  bit  of  modern  history. 
Some  were  cultured  gentlemen;  some,  perhaps,  were  not. 
It  is  also  possible  that  in  some  lives  no  liberalizing  culture 
can  quite  overcome  the  prejudices  of  the  home  and  the  tug 
of  self-interest.  But  the  lack  of  understanding  upon  vital 
problems,  and  especially  upon  unpleasant  problems,  is  far 
more  common  among  college  graduates  than  a  genuine  cul¬ 
ture  would  permit.  The  average  college  man  ascribes  our 
recurrent  strikes  to  the  diabolic  work  of  ^‘agitators,’’ 
chiefly  ‘‘damned  foreigners.’’  He  knows  nothing  of  the 
fact  that  the  labor  unrest  is  worldwide,  that  it  long  ante¬ 
dates  the  Russian  Revolution,  and  that  in  opposing  the  labor 
movement,  America  to-day  is  repeating  the  old  blunders  of 
Great  Britain  and  other  European  countries  as  if  nothing 
had  been  learned  from  their  experience.  He  has  had  his 
courses  in  history.  He  has  studied  about  the  Peloponnesian 
Wars  and  Caesar’s  conquest  of  Gaul.  He  has  even  heard 
something  about  Servile  Wars.  Of  the  Industrial  Revo¬ 
lution,  however,  and  its  effect  upon  the  destinies  of  enor¬ 
mous  populations  to-day,  he  is  often  as  uninformed  as  if 
he  were  wholly  illiterate.  His  culture  gives  him  far  too 
little  power  to  interpret  the  life  of  his  own  age. 

What  is  the  way  out  ?  Must  we  drop  the  study  of  Latin 
and  Greek  and  specialize  on  the  labor  problem?  Not  at 
all.  These  things,  however,  we  can  do:  we  can  keep  the 
classics  as  “vocational”  subjects,  that  is,  for  students  whose 
minds  turn  toward  writing,  language  or  literature  teaching, 
history  or  philosophy.  In  the  second  place,  even  for  those 
who  do  not  intend  to  enter  these  callings,  a  certain 
acquaintance  with  classical  literature  should  be  provided 


118 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


through  translations.^^  For  instance,  our  youth  would 
profit  from  reading  many  of  J owett ’s  translations  of  Plato. 
One  wishes  that  in  these  days  of  swift  change,  students  in 
our  high  schools  and  colleges  could  know  something  of  the 
changing  circumstances  of  Greek  life  which  brought  about 
the  Sophist  movement.  America  to-day  needs  the  spirit  of 
Socrates,  for  it  suffers  acutely  from  that  unexamined 
life  ’  ’  which  he  found  so  distasteful. 

The  large  outlook  which  the  cultural  studies  of  the  past 
afforded  can  be  supplied  by  making  cultural  the  studies 
that  prepare  for  the  vocations.  This  problem  will  be  dis¬ 
cussed  in  the  special  chapter  on  this  topic.  Here  it  may 
be  remarked  in  passing,  that  ethics,  history,  literature, 
science,  sociology,  all  the  social  studies,  possess  a  content 
which,  rightly  interpreted,  can  help  to  give  the  mind  some¬ 
thing  of  that  generous  outlook  over  human  affairs  which 
was  the  true  glory  of  the  old  disciplines.  When  the  voca¬ 
tion,  as  we  shall  attempt  to  show  in  Chapter  IX,  is  con¬ 
ceived  in  no  such  narrow  sense  as  the  mere  earning  of  bread 
but  is  understood  as  the  making  of  a  life  through  right 
relations  with  fellow  men,  the  necessary  studies  in  prepara¬ 
tion  will  surely  be  in  the  best  sense  cultural.^^ 

Questions  and  Problems 

1.  Why  did  the  early  Humanists  turn  so  eagerly  to  the  Latin 
and  Greek  classics'?  Do  their  reasons  hold  good  to-day? 

13  “To  say  that  the  Psalms  and  the  Gospels  have  no  value  .  .  . 
apart  from  the  original  form  .  .  .  would  be  absurd.  Is  it  any  less 
absurd  to  say  that  the  study  of  (Greek  works)  would  have  little 
value  .  .  .  unless  ...  in  the  original?”  W.  K.  Prentice,  professor 
of  Greek,  Princeton,  in  Klapper,  College  Teaching,  p.  417.  See  ibid., 
p.  407,  for  list  of  colleges  offering  Latin  and  Greek  in  translations. 

14(7/.  John  Dewey,  Democracy  and  Education,  p.  269:  “Knowledge 
is  humanistic  in  quality  not  because  it  is  about  human  products 
in  the  past,  but  because  of  what  it  does  in  liberating  human  intel¬ 
ligence  and  human  sympathy.  .  .  .  Any  subject  matter  which 
accomplishes  this  result  is  humane;  any  subject  matter  which  does 
not  accomplish  it  is  not  even  educational.” 


TRADITION  OF  CLASSICAL  CULTURE  119 


2.  When  it  is  said  that  a  knowledge  of  the  Bible  in  the  original 
tongue  is  not  needed,  the  answer  is  made  that  such  knowl¬ 
edge  is  eminently  essential  to  better  understanding  of  that 
book.  Would  you  therefore  recommend  Hebrew  and  New 
Testament  Greek  for  all  graduates? 

3.  In  view  of  the  “lofty  calm  and  clear  outlook’^  ascribed  to 
the  study  of  the  classics,  why  have  theologians  and  professors 
sometimes  been  the  bitterest  of  disputants,  often  over  trifles? 

4.  If  all  classical  literature  were  lost,  how  much  of  its  contribu¬ 
tion  do  you  think  could  be  obtained  from  the  literature  of 
America  and  Great  Britain? 

5.  Do  you  think  that  your  classical  training  has  cost  you  more 
in  denied  opportunities  than  it  has  proflted  you? 

6.  Speaking  of  the  debate  over  the  living  languages  and  the 
classics  three  centuries  ago,  Lowell  said,  in  his  Study  of 
Modern  Languages:  “As  the  knowledge  of  Greek  and  Latin 
was  the  exclusive  privilege  of  a  class,  that  class  naturally 
made  an  obstinate  defence  of  its  vested  rights.^^  Mention 
other  instances  of  such  a  tendency  in  the  history  of  education. 

References 

See,  besides  references  quoted  in  text: 

Arnold,  Matthew,  “Literature  and  Science, in  Discourses  in 
America. 

Bennett,  C.  E.,  and  Bristol,  G.  P.,  Teaching  of  Latin  and  Greek 
in  the  Secondary  School. 

Bryce,  James,  The  Worth  of  Ancient  Literature  to  the  Modern 
World. 

Cooper,  Lane,  Two  Views  of  Education. 

Eliot,  C.  W.,  Changes  Needed  in  American  Secondary  Education; 
“The  Case  Against  Compulsory  Latin,”  Atlantic  Monthly, 
March,  1917. 

Flexner,  Abraham,  A  Modern  School. 

Inglis,  a.  J.,  Principles  of  Secondary  Education,  Ch.  VIII. 

Lowell,  J.  R.,  The  Study  of  Modern  Languages. 

Monroe,  Paul,  Principles  of  Secondary  Education,  Ch.  11. 

Munroe,  j.  P.,  New  Demands  in  Education,  Ch.  X. 

Parker,  S.  C.,  Methods  of  Teaching  in  High  School,  Ch.  II. 

“Symposium  on  Value  of  Humanistic  Studies,”  School  and 
Society,  Vol.  28. 

Yocum,  A.  D.,  Culture,  Discipline  and  Democracy,  Ch.  I,  IV,  V. 


CHAPTER  VIII 


THE  CONTRIBUTION  OF  MODERN  SCIENCE 

Like  the  other  influences  we  have  been  considering,  mod¬ 
ern  science  has  brought  to  education  certain  offerings  which 
are  of  high  ethical  value  but  which,  at  the  same  time,  have 
their  serious  limitations.  Let  us  examine  both  facts  about 
this  mixed  contribution. 

That  science  should  occupy  an  important  place  in  our 
scheme  of  culture  few  people  will  now  question.  Even  so 
severe  a  critic  as  Mr.  Balfour  has  this  to  say  in  his  latest 
book :  ^ 

If  in  the  last  hundred  years  the  whole  material  setting  of 
civilized  life  has  altered,  we  owe  it  neither  to  politicians  nor  to 
political  institutions.  We  owe  it  to  the  combined  efforts  of  those 
who  have  advanced  science  and  applied  it.  If  our  outlook  upon 
the  Universe  has  suffered  modifications  in  detail  so  great  and 
numerous  that  they  amount  collectively  to  a  revolution,  it  is  to 
men  of  science  that  we  owe  it,  not  to  theologians  or  philosophers. 
On  these,  indeed,  new  and  mighty  responsibilities  are  being  cast. 
They  have  to  harmonize  and  coordinate,  to  prevent  the  new  from 
being  narrow,  to  preserve  unharmed  the  valuable  essence  of  what 
is  old.  But  science  is  the  great  instrument  of  social  change,  all 
the  greater  because  its  object  is  not  change  but  knowledge;  and 
its  silent  appropriation  of  this  dominant  function,  amid  the  din 
of  political  and  religious  strife,  is  the  most  vital  of  all  the  revolu¬ 
tions  which  have  marked  the  development  of  modern  civilization. 

Strangely  enough  this  revolution  was  less  the  outcome  of 
tiew  aims  for  human  life  than  the  result  of  more  or  less 

KJ  ■  ■  .  . .  ■  ■  ■  — .  . 

1  A.  J.  Balfour,  Essays  Speculative  and  Political,  p.  46. 

120 


CONTRIBUTION  OF  MODERN  SCIENCE  121 


accidental  discovery  of  a  new  method.  The  requirements 
of  this  method  are  summarized  by  Karl  Pearson  as  ‘  ‘  reason¬ 
ing  about  facts  .  .  .  from  their  accurate  classification  to 
the  appreciation  of  their  relation  and  sequence”;  “dis¬ 
covery  of  a  formula  by  the  aid  of  the  disciplined  imagina¬ 
tion  ’  ’ ;  testing  by  the  touchstone  of  ‘  ‘  universal  validity  for 
all  normally  constituted  and  duly  instructed  minds.  ’  ^  * 
Fortunately  these  have  become,  in  our  best  schools,  an 
indispensable  part  of  our  cultural  ideals. 

To  democratic  life  in  particular  these  attitudes  are  inval¬ 
uable.  For  one  thing,  science  works  in  the  open.  The 
scientist,  as  opposed  to  the  quack,  is  against  secrecy  and 
exclusiveness.  He  invites  all  men  to  share  his  methods  and 
the  results.  His  procedure  is  also  marked  by  modesty  and 
by  willingness  to  delay  judgment  until  the  necessary  facts 
are  known  and  to  change  cherished  judgments  when  the 
facts  command.  These  attitudes  are  never  easy,  whether 
for  youth  or  for  age,  but  none  are  more  needed  where 
majority  opinion  must  decide  the  gravest  of  public  ques¬ 
tions. 

The  scientific  method  sets  another  useful  standard:  it 
has  no  place  for  the  rancor,  the  odium  theologicumy  which 
so  often  characterizes  disputations  over  other  problems. 
Where  the  point  at  issue  is  a  matter  of  fact  which  can  be 
settled  by  observation  and  experiment,  people  are  less  likely 
to  lose  their  tempers  than  where  they  resort  to  dialectics, 
and  where  conviction  is  largely  a  matter  of  personal  opinion. 
The  story  is  related  that  a  pious  father  once  took  his  boy 
past  the  home  of  Huxley  in  order  to  impress  on  the  lad  the 
fact  that  this  was  the  dwelling  place  of  a  man  so  wicked 
as  to  declare  that  he  did  not  believe  the  story  of  Noah  and 
the  flood.  It  is  no  longer  polite  to  regard  people  as  wicked 
because  their  views  differ  from  your  own.  The  growth  of 


2  Karl  Pearson,  The  Grammar  of  Science,  pp.  24,  77. 


122 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


science  and  the  obvious  advantages  of  according  a  fair 
hearing  to  opposing  convictions  upon  scientific  problems 
have,  no  doubt,  done  much  to  bring  about  this  change. 

The  scientific  method  can  also  be  of  special  benefit  to 
democracy  because  it  so  encourages  the  spirit  of  curiosity. 
In  earlier  days,  curiosity  was  in  bad  odor.  The  Greek 
legend  ascribes  the  miseries  of  the  world  to  the  fact  that 
Pandora  was  curious.  The  modern  world  smiles  at  such 
an  estimate.  It  has  learned,  for  example,  what  gain  hsis 
come  from  the  Pandora  spirit  which  made  it  possible  for 
Madame  Curie  to  assist  her  husband  in  the  discovery  of 
radium.  A  democracy  needs  the  spirit  which  constant¬ 
ly  puts  questions  without  fear.  Progress  requires  the 
will  to  doubt  and  to  challenge  sanctified  assumptions 
bravely. 

The  labors  of  the  evolutionists  have  been  particularly 
useful  to  the  democratic  temper  because  they  have  brought 
home  and  familiarized  the  truth  that  customs,  institutions, 
need  no  longer  be  regarded  as  handed  down  forever  perfect 
and  therefore  beyond  the  reach  of  improvement.  Evolu¬ 
tion,  by  insisting  upon  the  fact  that  everything,  from  the 
solar  system  down  to  the  merest  blade  of  grass,  has  had  its 
history,  has  encouraged  people  to  interpret  things  his¬ 
torically.  It  has  declared  that  man,  instead  of  falling  from 
an  earlier  perfection,  has,  on  the  contrary,  ascended  from 
the  life  of  the  beast.  Hence,  the  suggestion  has  dawned 
upon  the  modern  world  as  never  before,  ‘^What  if  develop¬ 
ment  is  still  possible?’’  Earlier  ages,  too,  saw  men  bring 
forth  plans  for  Utopias.  But  the  striking  fact  about  pres¬ 
ent-day  hopes  for  better  life  is  that  modern  science  has 
encouraged  man  to  see  that  the  nobler  commonwealth,  if 
ever  it  comes,  is  something  that  must  be  evolved,  not  be 
produced  in  a  single  stroke  of  creation.  Furthermore, 
whereas  the  old  conceptions  of  the  perfect  commonwealth 
made  everything  the  work  of  a  single  inspired  lawgiver,  the 


CONTRIBUTION  OF  MODERN  SCIENCE  123 


modern  viewpoint  is  more  democratic  in  declaring  that  the 
work  must  be  the  result  of  the  cooperation  of  all  men  and 
women.  ‘‘What  the  best  human  nature  is  capable  of,  is 
within  the  reach  of  human  nature  at  large,”  said  Herbert 
Spencer,  and  hopes  of  this  kind  are  playing  their  big 
part  to-day.  The  two  terms,  science  and  progress,  have 
become  so  closely  related  that  we  can  scarcely  think  of  the 
one  without  the  other  as  its  instrument. 

For  many  a  forward  step  of  to-day  and  to-morrow  credit 
must  go  to  a  department  of  science  later  in  origin  than 
the  others,  namely  that  of  social  investigation.  Experts 
employed  by  life-insurance  companies  or  consumers* 
leagues  study  the  connection  between  health  and  work,  and, 
as  a  result,  we  learn  to  guard  better  against  occupational 
diseases.  To  breed  healthier  new  generations,  we  have  the 
eugenists  to  supply  us  with  a  wealth  of  biologic  and  socio¬ 
logic  facts.  When  employers  and  their  striking  miners 
issue  conflicting  statements  about  the  causes  of  the  trouble, 
a  corps  of  specialists  marshals  the  necessary  data,  and  the 
relation  of  wages  to  the  cost  of  production  and  the  cost  of 
living  need  no  longer  be  in  dispute.  The  researches  of  the 
psychologists  are  proving  a  help  to  teachers,  parents,  social 
workers,  law-makers,  reformers  of  every  kind.  See,  for 
illustration,  the  brief  prepared  in  defense  of  the  first 
woman ’s  labor  law  before  the  United  States  Supreme 
Court.®  The  psychologists  had  amassed  a  fund  of  informa¬ 
tion  on  the  subject  of  fatigue.  These  facts  and  others  were 
brought  together  in  a  notable  application  to  a  vital  problem 
of  modern  industry.  There  seems  to  be  no  limit  to  the 
achievements  which  the  human  race  can  reach  by  applying 
to  all  fields  of  behavior  the  methods  of  precise  investiga¬ 
tion  and  formulation  which  have  accomplished  so  much 
in  the  physical  sciences. 

3  Josephine  Goldmark,  Fatigue  and  Efficiency  (Russell  Sage 
Foundation,  1912). 


124  EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


But  the  findings  of  the  sciences,  even  of  the  social  sciences, 
we  must  never  permit  ourselves  to  forget,  constitute  only 
a  partial  need  in  our  culture.  Their  usefulness  is  limited 
to  supplying  knowledge  about  instruments.  They  do  not 
give  us  ultimate  ideals ;  they  cannot  provide  a  pattern  for 
the  whole  of  life  but  only  the  means  to  follow  the  pattern, 
if  we  will.  The  '‘if”  is  all  important.  The  statisticians 
may,  for  instance,  gather  all  the  facts  they  will  about  the 
wastefulness  of  war;  they  may  shout  from  the  housetops 
that  we  spend  dollars  on  armies  and  navies,  and  dimes  on 
schools;  but  what  if  people  are  still  wedded  to  the  ideas 
which  make  fleets  and  armies  the  only  protection  they  can 
understand  or  desire  ?  Important  as  it  is  to  know  the  facts 
about  economy  or  safety  or  health,  it  is  even  more  impor¬ 
tant  to  know  what  part  these  objects  of  desire  should  play 
in  the  entire  scheme  of  our  lives.  This  scheme  is  not  sup¬ 
plied  to  us  by  the  sciences.  It  is  given  by  our  general 
convictions  about  the  worth  of  life,  by  our  religion,  by  our 
ethical  ideals.  On  this  head  science  cannot  speak.  Its 
function  is  to  find  the  ways  by  which  our  ideals  can  be 
effectively  served. 

We  must  differentiate,  that  is,  two  kinds  of  rightness. 
There  is  first  the  provisional  rightness  which  is  the  concern 
of  science  and  which  tells  us  what  we  must  do  if  we  want 
our  plans  to  succeed.  Then  there  is  the  other  kind  of  right¬ 
ness  which  asks  whether  the  success  itself  is  worth  striving 
for.  If  I  want  to  go  to  Europe,  I  must  take  such  and  such 
steps.  But  ought  I  to  go  at  all  ?  If  I  own  slaves  and  want 
to  get  more  labor  out  of  them,  I  must  feed  them  better ;  but 
ought  I  to  be  a  slaveholder?  Science  tells  us  that  if  we 
want  to  wage  war  effectively,  we  must  use  these  and  these 
tactics,  sacrifice  these  lives,  pay  this  and  that  other  cost. 
It  says  nothing  of  the  fundamental  rightness  or  wrongness 
of  war  as  a  mode,  let  us  say,  of  “vindicating  national 
honor.”  These  questions  illustrate  the  difference  which 


CONTRIBUTION  OF  MODERN  SCIENCE  125 


Kant,  antiquated  though  it  sounds  to  mention  him  to-day, 
pointed  out  when  he  distinguished  the  two  kinds  of  impera¬ 
tive,  the  ‘  ‘  ought-with-an-if  ’  ’  and  the  ‘  ^  moral  ought,  ’  ’  which 
may  not  be  heeded  or  ignored  according  to  our  choice  of 
something  else,  but  which  must  he  followed  because  of  its 
intrinsic  rightness. 

Now  the  man  of  science,  as  long  as  he  confines  himself  to 
the  gathering  of  facts,  is  a  specialist  in  the  demands  of 
the  former  kind  of  rightness,  the  provisional  type.  We 
go  to  him  to  learn  what  must  be  done  if  we  are  to  travel 
faster,  make  our  factories  safer,  our  children  healthier,  our 
government  more  efficient.  But  no  amount  of  statistics  or 
other  scientific  information  can  tell  us  ultimately  what  all 
these  improvements  are  good  for,  why,  for  instance,  we 
should  labor  for  posterity  at  all,  why  it  is  better  to  be 
defeated  in  a  righteous  cause  than  to  triumph  in  a  wrong 
one,  or  why,  in  general,  those  things  of  inestimable  precious¬ 
ness  which  constitute  our  holiest  ideals  should  be  for  us  so 
sovereign.  These  reflections  are  far  from  academic.  Prog¬ 
ress  is  not  simply  an  affair  of  discovering  facts.  A  right 
attitude  toward  the  findings  is  still  more  fundamental. 
Such  facts  as  are  coming  to  light  about  the  disordered  social 
life  of  to-day  are  useless  if  men  have  not  the  moral  courage 
to  act  upon  them  whatever  the  cost  to  vested  comfort. 
Science  is  ennobled  to  the  extent  that  every  better  possi¬ 
bility  which  it  can  suggest  is  accepted  as  a  moral  responsi¬ 
bility. 

Every  such  help  is  to  be  welcomed.  The  way  to  salva¬ 
tion  is  through  intelligence.  But  the  greatest  service  any 
study  can  offer,  we  repeat,  is  its  light  upon  ultimate  ideals 
for  the  whole  of  our  relationships.  These  goals  are  not 
revealed  by  even  the  most  accurate  study  of  things  as  they 
are.  The  ideal  pattern  for  life  is  found  neither  in  Nature 
nor  in  human  societies  as  these  are  viewed  by  the  scientists. 
In  so  far  as  men  of  science  are  entitled  to  the  name,  they 


126 


EDUCATION  POK  MORAL  GROWTH 


tell  us  only  about  .what  exists,  not  what  life  at  its  highest 
ought  to  mean. 

The  difference  is  strikingly  illustrated  in  a  fallacy  of 
Herbert  Spencer’s  in  his  useful  Essay  on  Education.  He 
repeats  Rousseau’s  injunction  to  let  all  necessary  punish¬ 
ments  come,  if  they  must,  from  Nature  and  not  from  man. 
These  natural  penalties,  he  says,  are  constant,  direct, 
impartial,  inevitable ;  they  do  not  threaten  but  work  silently 
and  inexorably  where  parental  indulgence  does  the  oppo¬ 
site.  But,  before  he  concludes,  Spencer  is  obliged  to  warn 
us  against  an  exclusive  following  of  Nature  for  the  reason 
that  some  of  her  inflictions  may  be  altogether  too  cruel. 
Exposure  to  cold  may  bring  pneumonia  and  death.  Hence, 
“the  moral  reactions  called  forth  from  you  by  your  child’s 
actions  you  should  as  much  as  possible  assimilate  to  those 
which  you  conceive  would  be  called  forth  from  a  parent  of 
perfect  nature.'^ How  signiflcantly  is  the  point  of  view 
here  shifted!  We  are‘told  repeatedly  to  follow  Nature,  and 
then,  when  we  consider  the  dire  possibilities,  we  must  turn 
from  Nature  and  take  as  our  guide  the  perfect  parent — a 
being  nowhere  to  be  found  in  the  natural  order.  Some 
fathers  and  mothers  are  assuredly  wiser  than  others,  but 
none  are  perfect.  When  Spencer,  therefore,  directs  us 
to  the  standard  set  by  the  perfect  parent,  he  leaves  behind 
him  the  realm  open  to  investigation  by  the  methods  of 
science  and  calls  upon  a  being  from  the  world  of  ideals. 

No  other  course  is  open.  Nature  cannot  supply  us  with 
ideals  because  Nature  is  morally  indifferent.  When  her 
laws  are  violated,  she  does  not  act  as  the  parents  would  who 
desire  to  see  the  law-breaker  taught  to  be  better.  She  may 
go  to  the  extreme  of  entirely  killing  him  off.  This  is  but  a 
single  instance  of  her  unconcern.  In  all  her  domain,  there 


4 Herbert  Spencer,  Essay  on  Education^  p.  217  (italics  ours). 


CONTRIBUTION  OF  MODERN  SCIENCE  127 


is  no  question  of  what  ought  to  be.  A  given  volume  of 
hydrogen  weighs  less  than  the  same  volume  of  oxygen  at 
the  same  pressure  and  temperature,  and  that  is  all  there  is 
to  the  matter ;  it  is  neither  right  nor  wrong  that  this  should 
be  the  case.  The  world  might  indeed  have  been  diiferent  if 
hydrogen  were  heavier  than  it  is,  but  nobody  ever  thinks 
of  saying  it  ought  to  be  heavier,  as  we  say  that  men  ought, 
for  instance,  restrain  the  natural  impulse  to  kill  one 
another.  This  might  have  been  a  very  different  world  if 
the  axis  of  the  earth  were  perpendicular  to  the  plane  of  its 
orbit  instead  of  being  inclined  as  it  is.  Who  will  say  that 
it  should  have  been  perpendicular  ?  The  fact  itself  speaks 
the  last  word ;  the  thing  exists,  and  that  ends  it.  But  in 
human  conduct,  it  is  of  the  utmost  importance  that  what 
does  indeed  exist  should  be  judged  in  the  light  of  what 
ought  to  exist. 

To  find  the  highest  aims  for  the  conduct  of  men,  we 
must,  therefore,  look  not  to  Nature  nor  to  people  as  they  are, 
but  to  human  behavior  raised  to  perfection.  Nature’s  use¬ 
fulness  to  man  begins  and  ends  with  her  supplying  instru¬ 
ments,  not  supreme  purposes.  Here  lies  the  reason  for  one 
of  the  outstanding  tragedies  of  our  age.  Modern  society 
has  been  so  absorbed  in  shaping  instruments  that  it  has  for¬ 
gotten  to  ask  the  best  uses  to  which  these  can  be  put  or, 
indeed,  in  such  instances  as  poison  gas,  whether  it  is  ever 
right  to  fashion  some  instruments  at  all.  This  eager  absorp¬ 
tion  in  the  devising  of  tools  has  allowed  modern  science 
to  increase  the  possibilities  of  human  hurt  at  the  same 
time  that,  through  surgery  and  other  ways,  it  has  tried 
to  minimize  them.  The  diseases  and  deaths  from  phos¬ 
phorus  in  match  factories  until  recent  years  are  but  a 
single  example  of  health  perils  which  the  growth  of  science 
has  actually  multiplied.  The  deadening  effect  of  modern 
machinery  in  stunting  the  mentality  of  the  mechanized 


128 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


workers  who  operate  them  is  another  kind  of  hurt.®  Every¬ 
thing  depends  upon  the  purposes  which  people  are  taught 
to  keep  at  all  times  steadily  in  view.  The  wireless  telegraph 
lends  itself  as  readily  to  signaling  the  position  of  a  pros¬ 
pective  victim  to  a  submarine  as  it  does  to  appealing  for 
help  for  a  vessel  afire.  Nature’s  indifference  to  the  ends 
to  which  her  gifts  are  put  is  notorious. 

These  considerations  men  are  only  too  likely  to  forget 
under  the  thrilling  sense  of  expanding  power  which  mod¬ 
ern  science  gives  them.  Who  knows  to  what  fearful 
shrinkage  the  spirit  of  man  may  come  if  we  continue  to 
improve  upon  our  machines  without  due  thought  of  the 
ideal  good  to  which  they  should  minister  f  It  stands  to  our 
disgrace  that  a  world  which  could  master  natural  forces, 
as  it  has  done,  has  not  yet  been  able  to  master  its  own 
moral  anarchies.  The  least  we  can  do  is  to  try  to  have  our 
young  people  reflect  upon  these  matters  in  the  days  when 
their  minds  are  relatively  open.  We  adults  have  so  many 
immediate  tasks  to  perform  that  we  usually  think  our¬ 
selves  constrained  to  shelve  utterly  the  problem  of  ultimate 
purposes  and  plunge  into  finding  means  for  the  very  near 
ends  of  business,  housekeeping,  or  social  reform.  Hence 
the  passion  for  science.  The  methods  of  science  open  imme¬ 
diate  ways  to  construct  machines  for  war  and  industry. 
They  indicate  immediate  steps  to  end  disease  and  to  rid 
the  race  of  present  evils.  So  it  is  that,  just  as  Herbert 
Spencer  did  in  his  generation,  to-day  men  like  Dr.  Flexner 
turn  to  science  as  the  great  lever  by  which  to  lift  the  enor¬ 
mous  weight  of  woe  and  maladjustment.  But  scientific 
knowledge  and  skill,  essential  as  they  are,  do  not  constitute 
the  chief  needs  of  youth.  The  greatest  need  of  the  young  is 
vision.  Youth  is  not  yet  obliged  to  concentrate  its  energies 
upon  finding  tools.  It  is  still  free  to  look  out  over  life  at 

5  See  Arthur  Pound,  The  Iron  Man  in  Industry,  and  Josephino 
Goldmark,  Fatigue  and  Efficiency. 


CONTRIBUTION  OF  MODERN  SCIENCE  129 

long  range.  It  is  still  free  to  dream  dreams  and  to  shape 
ideals. 

This  would  no  doubt  be  admitted  by  the  advocates  of 
education  in  science.  Spencer,  for  example,  was  a  pro¬ 
nounced  anti-militarist  and  anti-imperialist.  His  Essay  on 
Educationy  like  others  of  his  books,  was  designed  to  help 
train  better  parents  and  better  citizens.  In  our  own  day 
an  ideal  purpose  lies  behind  the  work  of  the  Modern  School 
founded  by  Francisco  Ferrer  in  Spain  and  imitated  by 
disciples  elsewhere,  and  surely  it  is  a  meliorative  purpose 
that  prompted  Dr.  Flexner’s  founding  of  the  Lincoln 
School.  But  because  the  science  which  forms  the  core  of 
study  in  such  schools  is  essentially  concerned  with  means 
and  not  with  ultimate  ends,  its  votaries  may  very  easily 
become  so  enamored  of  mastering  these  means  as  to  treat 
the  question  of  ends  with  but  scant  regard.  The  end  com¬ 
monly  accepted  in  these  Modern  Schools  is  hedonistic; 
science  is  to  promote  human  happiness.  But  we  need 
ethical  ideals  more  deserving  of  the  name.® 

These  considerations,  let  it  be  reiterated,  are  not  intended 
to  minimize  the  highly  important  function  that  science  per¬ 
forms  within  its  own  sphere  as  provider  of  instruments. 
And  let  all  credit  be  given  to  its  pedagogical  contributions. 
As  against  the  dreary  futilities  of  so  much  academic  teach¬ 
ing  and  the  failure  to  use  the  most  elementary  results  of 
modern  investigation,  the  offerings  of  the  scientists  are  of 
immense  value  to  educators.  But  the  warning  of  Bacon 
is  still  timely :  ^  ‘  There  is  a  superstition  in  avoiding  super¬ 
stition,  when  men  think  to  do  best  if  they  go  furthest 
from  the  superstition  formerly  received.^’  To-day’s  super¬ 
stition  is  the  undue  worship  of  natural  science.  It  shows 
itself  particularly  in  the  eagerness  with  which  many  edu¬ 
cators  look  to  biology  for  chief  guidance  in  the  affairs  of 
human  beings. 


«  See  p.  177. 


130 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


Such  guidance  is  woefully  inadequate.  Much  as  we  can 
learn  from  biology,  we  go  amiss  when  we  forget — or  deny, 
as  many  eager  spirits  do — the  all-important  differences 
from  plant  and  animal  that  make  man  human.  Again  we 
see  the  need  for  ideals  drawn  from  a  better  source  than 
that  of  morally  indifferent  nature.  In  the  biological  world, 
there  is  struggle  for  existence,  there  is  survival  of  the  fit¬ 
test,  but  without  regard  to  moral  fitness  to  survive.^  The 
world  of  business  and  of  international  relations  shows 
plainly  enough  the  mischief  wrought  by  accepting  this 
doctrine.  A  merchant  may  put  his  competitor  out  of  busi¬ 
ness  by  employing  methods  which  a  man  of  greater  self- 
respect  would  not  lower  himself  to  use.  The  stronger 
nation  may  crush  a  weaker — because  it  is  better  fitted  to 
survive  ? 

Biologic  fitness  bears  no  relation  to  moral  merit.  Sur¬ 
vival  in  one  environment  may  be  due  to  circumstances 
which  make  survival  impossible  where  the  environment 
itself  is  on  a  higher  ethical  level.  The  Arctic  fur  of  the 
polar  bear  would  unfit  him  to  survive  in  the  heart  of 
Africa.  Because  Oliver  Twist  could  not  steal  so  well  as  the 
Artful  Dodger,  he  was  less  able  to  survive  in  the  pickpocket 
society.  Every  great  martyr  bears  witness  to  this  impor¬ 
tant  truth.  The  very  societies  that  condemn  the  martyr 
condemn  themselves  rather  than  him  as  the  more  truly 
unfit.  Socrates  might  have  avoided  death  if  he  had 


7  Here  is  a  sample  of  this  misleading  philosophy :  “Nature  is  ruled 
by  the  law  of  the  struggle  for  existence  and  of  the  survival  of  the 
fittest  and  strongest.  States,  like  trees  and  animals,  are  engaged  in 
a  never-ending  struggle  for  room,  food,  light,  and  air,  and  that 
struggle  is  a  blessing  in  disguise,  for  it  is  the  cause  of  all 
progress.  .  .  .  The  abolition  of  war  would  be  a  misfortune  to  man¬ 
kind.  It  would  lead  not  to  the  survival  of  the  fittest  and  strong¬ 
est  .  .  .  but  of  the  sluggard  and  the  unfit.”  J.  E.  Barker,  Great  and 
Greater  Britain.  For  reply,  consult  D.  S.  Jordan,  War  and  the 
Breed;  F.  G.  Nicolai,  Biology  of  War;  G.  Nasmyth,  Social  Progress 
and  Dartcdnian  Theory, 


CONTRIBUTION  OF  MODERN  SCIENCE  131 


descended  to  the  level  of  his  fellow  Athenians.  The  better 
way  would  have  been  for  Athens  to  have  risen. 

Survival  of  the  fittest  in  the  natural  world  also  means 
keeping  others  from  surviving.  When  the  stock  of  acorns 
is  limited,  the  squirrel  must  look  out  strictly  for  itself  and 
thus  keep  other  squirrels  from  protecting  themselves  against 
hunger.  In  a  world  thoroughly  humanized,  men  survive 
in  the  process  of  helping  others  to  survive.  Man^s  life  at 
its  best  is  guided  by  an  ideal  not  found  in  the  dealings  of 
natural  beings :  he  feels  the  obligation  to  elevate  and  refine 
the  standards  of  fitness  and  to  work  for  fitness  in  all  his 
fellows.  It  will  not  do  to  cite  the  many  instances  of  mutual 
aid  found  in  the  subhuman  world.  These  may  be  expres¬ 
sions  of  mere  herd  instinct,  as  often  misleading  for  man  as 
useful;  or  else  they  may  signify  cooperation  within  the 
group  for  more  effective  combat  with  other  groups.  Man, 
however,  is  most  himself  when  he  differs  from  the  animal 
even  in  his  cooperation.  Everything  depends  upon  the 
conscious  purpose.® 

Contrast  further  the  bonds  between  the  generations  of 
natural  beings  with  those  best  of  human  ties  which  we  here 
call  spiritual.  In  the  natural  world,  the  child  outgrows  the 
parent  more  or  less  quickly.  Indeed,  when  the  parent  plant 
has  performed  its  function  of  creating  fiower  and  fruit,  it 
may  fade  and  perish.  In  the  human  relationship,  the 


8  Whenever  man  and  Nature  are  treated  as  alike,  the  tendency 
is  to  level  downward.  Note,  without  anticlimax,  the  current  habit 
of  speech  which,  instead  of  asking,  “What  do  you  think?”  asks, 
“What  is  your  reaction?”,  as  if  you  were  a  piece  of  litmus  paper  or 
a  tadpole  in  a  laboratory. 

It  will  be  said  that  such  Darwinism  as  we  have  here  been  discussing 
is  no  longer  regarded  as  scientific.  But  whatever  may  be  the  latest 
word  in  biology,  the  relation  of  man  to  his  environment  cannot  find 
its  highest  pattern  in  the  example  of  plants  and  animals.  Even  if, 
for  example,  in  spite  of  the  behaviorists,  it  should  ever  be  the  ac¬ 
cepted  scientific  belief  that  animals  can  reason  and  will,  something 
more  and  other  will  still  be  required  of  the  human  creature. 


132 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


tie  between  the  parent  and  child  is  prolonged,  and,  when 
the  relationship  is  spiritualized,  the  bond  is  never  broken. 
Youth  can  never  outgrow  the  wisdom  of  age.  When  the 
aged  themselves  cease  to  grow  and  when  they  become  bur¬ 
dens,  there  is  always  the  duty  of  tender  care.  Human 
offspring  can  never  reach  the  point  where  further  quicken¬ 
ing  from  the  old  is  impossible.  How  often  does  it  happen 
that  precisely  at  the  period  when  the  young  have  passed  out 
of  their  legal  infancy,  that  is,  when  they  are  old  enough 
to  make  homes  of  their  own,  they  begin  for  the  first  time 
to  understand  their  parents  and  want  the  benefit  of  their 
experience !  The  yearning  desire  of  parents  to  be  of  such 
continued  service  is  unknown  to  beast  and  plant.  Wherever 
the  child  thus  turns  toward  father  or  mother,  what  is  best 
in  the  latter  is  reanimated;  the  parent  soul  is  stirred  to 
better  life,  as  it  certainly  is  not  in  the  world  where  the 
elders,  having  performed  their  physical  functions,  are  no 
longer  needed  and  may  pass  away  at  once.  Or  it  may  be 
that  after  the  parents  are  helpless  or  deceased,  the  example 
of  their  lives  continues  to  touch  the  lives  of  the  children. 
And  even  more  precious  are  those  influences  that  we  cannot 
quite  call  by  the  name  of  example.  There  is  something 
about  people  that  is  better  than  anything  they  actually 
say  or  do,  and  the  life  of  many  a  parent  reveals  to  the 
children  glimpses  of  this  nobler  existence,  insights  into  a 
world  where  people  greet  one  another,  not  as  creatures  of 
flesh  and  blood,  but  as  spirits.  “We  get  our  lives  from  our 
mothers  not  once  but  a  thousand  times,  *  ’  says  the  Norwegian 
dramatist;  and  we  might  add,  “from  our  fathers,  too.*^ 
These  are  ties  of  which  the  biologic  world  knows  nothing. 

The  man  whose  chief  training  has  been  in  science  is  apt 
to  dismiss  these  considerations  lightly,  because  he  has  been 
accustomed  to  but  one  method  of  verification,  which  he  mis¬ 
takenly  applies  to  any  and  every  type  of  experience.  He 
accepts  as  true  what  can  be  mathematically  verified  or 


CONTRIBUTION  OF  MODERN  SCIENCE  133 


what  can  be  repeated  everywhere  in  purely  external  fash¬ 
ion.  Everybody  can  make  the  same  tests  for  oxygen  or 
carbon  dioxide  by  following  a  few  definite  mechanical  for¬ 
mulas.  But  when  it  comes  to  proving,  for  example,  how  he 
that  loseth  his  life  shall  save  it,  or  that  the  best  life  for  any 
one  of  us  lies  in  evoking  it  in  others,  something  other  is 
required  than  the  mathematical  demonstration  or  the 
mechanical  repetition  found  adequate  in  the  laboratory. 
Here  the  deepest  intimacies  of  a  man’s  own  life  are 
involved.  All  that  one  is,  or  tries  to  be,  at  the  innermost 
core  of  his  being  must  be  drawn  upon.  A  moral  truth 
must  become  a  genuine  force  in  one ’s  life  before  its  validity 
can  be  recognized.  Language  being  at  best  so  inadequate 
here,  we  are  obliged,  in  order  to  suggest  the  peculiarly  inti¬ 
mate  persuasion  required  for  ethical  conviction,  to  say 
that  the  heart”  must  assent.  The  mother  who  sees  the 
ideal  self  in  a  wayward  child  because  of  her  love  for  it, 
nay,  sometimes  because  of  her  very  disappointment  in  it, 
illustrates  the  point.  Some  truths  cannot  be  perceived  as 
a  matter  of  bare,  cold-blooded  cognition.  Everyone  who 
has  ever  tried  to  quicken  an  unresponsive  nature  to  a  love 
of  beauty  or  to  an  appreciation  of  some  fine  shade  of  human 
excellence  knows  how  much  harder  it  is  to  teach  this  than 
the  chemical  analysis  of  protoplasm  or  differences  in  reac¬ 
tion  time.  Not  everything  can  be  taught  with  the  aid  of 
test  tubes  and  microscopes  and  slide  rules.  Perhaps  this  is 
the  reason  why  those  whose  training  has  been  mostly  in 
science  are  sometimes  slower  about  showing  sensitiveness 
to  realities  which  lovers  of  beauty  and  the  spiritually^ 
minded  are  often  quicker  to  recognize. 

Here  lies  the  strength  of  the  plea  for  the  special  kind  of 
training  in  imagination  offered  by  literary  study.  Sir 
Gilbert  Murray  says  that  we  can  use  the  telephone  and 
get  the  most  that  it  is  intended  to  offer  without  living 
over  the  mental  activity  of  the  inventor  j  it  is  not  necessary 


134 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


to  ^‘recapture  the  moment  of  glory which  came  to  him, 
but  it  is  impossible  to  get  the  best  out  of  a  great  literary 
work  without  ‘  ‘  definite  effort  of  imaginative  understanding 
so  as  to  relive  the  experience  of  the  creator  of  it.  ”  ^ 

Such  experiences  are  indispensable  if  our  youth  are  to 
feel  any  sense  of  ultimate  consecrations  for  their  lives. 
They  do  indeed  get  such  convictions  from  teachers  of  sci¬ 
ence,  but  only  when  these  teachers  are  more  than  “men  of 
science,’’  that  is,  when  they  are  men  of  ethical  enthusiasm. 
Again  we  are  brought  back  to  the  need  of  ideals,  great 
compelling  visions  of  life  as  it  ought  to  be.  To  correct  the 
arresting  tendency  of  occupation  with  things  as  they  are, 
we  must  call  upon  the  teachings  of  literature,  philosophy, 
ethics.  The  limitation  of  science-teaching  in  this  respect 
is  evident  in  this  statement  by  Dr.  Flexner :  “  The  man 

educated  in  the  modern  sense  will  be  trained  to  know  and 
to  care  about  and  to  understand  the  world  he  lives  in, 
both  the  physical  world  and  the  social  world.  ...  A  firm 
grasp  of  the  social  world  means  an  appreciation  of,  and  a 
sympathy  with,  current  industry,  current  science,  and 
current  politics.”  Important  as  it  undoubtedly  is  to  under¬ 
stand  the  physical  world  and  the  social  world,  does  this  not 
ignore  the  supreme  importance  of  understanding  that  there 
is  such  a  thing  as  an  ideal  world?  The  danger  is  that 
where  science  is  made  ‘  ‘  the  central  and  dominating  feature 
of  the  school,”  acquaintance  with  ultimate  ideals  will  be 
assumed  to  be  something  that  the  child  can  pick  up  as  he 
goes  along  without  any  necessity  for  specific  attention  to 
them.  Indeed,  it  is  characteristic  that  in  Dr.  Flexner ’s 
plan  for  the  modern  school,  he  speaks  of  the  aim  of  litera- 

9  Gilbert  Murray,  Religio  Grammatici,  p.  31.  See  also  J.  R. 
Lowell’s  “Dante”  in  Essays,  Vol.  IV,  p.  255.  On  verification  in 
ethics,  see  Felix  Adler,  An  Ethical  Philosophy  of  Life,  pp.  112, 
116,  135. 

10  Abraham  Flexner,  The  Modern  School  (General  Education 
Board,  New  York). 


CONTRIBUTION  OF  MODERN  SCIENCE  135 


ture  as  being  ‘‘the  cultivation  of  taste  and  appreciation,” 
but  says  nothing  of  its  paramount  importance  as  a  means 
of  cultivating  and  elevating  ideals  of  living.  In  the  same 
way,  the  tendency  in  many  a  school  is  to  teach  vocational 
guidance,  that  is,  to  acquaint  young  people  with  “current 
practices,  ’  ’  but  to  say  little  or  nothing  about  better  ethical 
standards  for  those  practices. 

The  need  for  such  standards  is  fundamental.  In  a  mem¬ 
orable  passage,  Plato  answers  the  contention  that  children 
should  be  taught  things  as  they  are  with  the  rejoinder  to 
teach  them  ideals,  because,  if  you  instruct  them  in  things 
as  they  are,  they  will  have  no  measures  of  value. 

Dr.  Flexner  would  agree  with  the  wisdom  of  this  re¬ 
minder  in  so  far  as  it  applies  to  the  necessity  of  teaching 
scientific  standards.  He  would  have  young  people  taught 
the  indispensable  norms  of  modern  inquiry,  regard  for 
facts,  sound  hygiene,  economic  efficiency.  But  a  spiritual 
culture  will  keep  the  scientific  standards  in  their  proper 
place  and  labor  unceasingly  to  educate  our  youth  to  appre¬ 
ciate  the  highest  standards  possible,  those  ideals  which  give 
us  our  vision  of  a  perfect  society  beyond  the  best  that 
experience  has  yet  encountered. 

Questions  and  Problems 

1.  Pasteur  said:  “The  greatest  distortion  of  the  intellect  is  to 
believe  things  because  one  wishes  them  to  exist.^^  Illustrate 
from  discussions  of  to-day^s  public  questions. 

2.  Show  how  classroom  methods  have  benefited  from  the  at¬ 
tempt  to  study  educational  problems  scientifically.  Are 
there  any  suggestions  here  for  the  study  of  other  problems, 
for  example,  political  and  industrial? 

3.  Why  was  it  necessary  for  Spencer  in  1859  to  write  his  plea 
for  science?  To  what  extent  has  his  plea  been  heeded  and 
why? 

4.  Can  you  think  of  any  other  reasons,  besides  those  in  this 
chapter,  why  the  morality  enforced  by  Nature,  the  best 
according  to  Spencer,  is  inadequate? 


136  EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


5.  Contrast  the  progress  resulting  from  the  study  of  external 
nature  with  the  smaller  accomplishment  from  the  study  of 
man  himself.  Can  you  explain  the  reasons  for  the  difference? 

6.  Read  A.  R.  Bond^s  Inventions  of  the  Great  War,  Classify 
these  inventions  in  the  order  of  their  benefit  to  mankind. 

7.  Read  Johan  Bojer^s  novel  The  Great  Hunger.  What  light 
does  it  throw  on  “conquering  the  world  of  matter’^  as  an 
ideal  for  life? 

8.  Read  the  concluding  sketch  in  Georges  DuhamePs  Civilization 
and  define  the  ethical  function  of  science. 

References 

See,  besides  references  quoted  in  text: 

Bury,  J.  B.,  The  Idea  of  Progress,  Ch.  II,  XIX. 

Conklin,  E.  G.,  Heredity  and  Environment,  The  Direction  of 
Human  Evolution. 

Huxley,  T.  H.,  Science  and  Culture,  A  Liberal  Education, 
Science  and  Art  in  Relation  to  Education. 

Judd,  C.  H.,  The  Psychology  of  High  School  Subjects,  Ch.  XIV 

Marvin,  F.  S.,  The  Century  of  Hope,  Ch.  V,  VI. 

Perry,  R.  B.,  The  Present  Philosophical  Tendencies,  Ch.  Ill; 
The  Present  Conflict  of  Ideals,  Ch.  V. 

SoDDY,  Frederick,  Science  and  Life. 

Shafer,  Robert,  Progress  and  Science. 

Thomson,  J.  A.,  An  Introduction  to  Science. 

Veblen,  Thorstein,  The  Place  of  Science  in  Modern  Civilization. 

Wallace,  A.  R.,  The  Wonderful  Century. 

Wallas,  Graham,  The  Great  Society,  Ch.  I. 


CHAPTER  IX 


THE  DEMAND  FOR  VOCATIONAL  FITNESS 

“I  HEAR  America  singing,  ”  says  Walt  Whitman ;  and  the 
music  is  the  song  of  men  and  women  engaged  in  their 
everyday  tasks  But  America  will  have  better  reason  for 
singing  when  the  work  of  hand  and  brain  is  done  better 
than  it  is  now.  The  sharp  demands  of  modern  life  have 
been  forcing  us  to  realize  that  our  standards  of  work  have 
been  too  easy-going.  Hence  the  insistence  upon  vocational 
training,  and,  hence  also,  the  grave  danger  of  our  being 
tempted  now  into  overprizing  specialized  efficiency.  To 
avoid  such  an  extreme,  our  schools  must  offer  vocational 
preparation,  but  this  preparation  should,  at  the  same  time, 
introduce  each  worker  to  the  liberal  outlook  of  the  cultured. 
Evidently  we  shall  have  to  change  our  conceptions  both  of 
work  and  culture. 

We  have  already  seen  how  limited  as  a  preparation  for 
modern  life  is  the  culture  originally  designed  for  the  select 
social  classes.  Still  less  does  the  classical  tradition  meet 
the  educational  needs  of  women.  When  ^‘the  female  semi¬ 
naries”  were  opened  in  this  country  less  than  a  century 
ago,  they  simply  took  over,  in  the  main,  the  kind  of  learn¬ 
ing  provided  in  the  colleges  for  males.  The  choice  was  not 
unwise.  The  seminary  was  meant  for  ladies  who  must  no 
more  be  occupied  with  the  concerns  of  the  life  about  them 
than  the  gentleman  should  work  for  his  bread.  This  idea 
of  culture  for  women,  however,  will  no  longer  serve.  Many 
girls  who  must  earn  their  living  now  go  to  high  school  and 

137 


138 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


college.  All  women  are  now  voters.  They  require  some¬ 
thing  better  than  the  education  described  by  Mr.  Wells  as 
furnished  by  a  kind  of  “mental  maid  who  did  the  young 
ladies’  minds  as  the  maid  did  their  hair  for  the  dinner 
table.” 

Moreover,  most  girls  expect  some  day  to  be  wives  and 
mothers  directing  their  own  households.  For  this  home¬ 
making,  education  patterned  upon  the  classical  tradition 
can  hardly  be  the  fittest  preparation.  The  moment  this 
topic  of  women’s  vocation  is  broached,  deep-seated  preju¬ 
dices  arise,  and  yet  no  subject  stands  more  in  need  of  dis¬ 
passionate  survey ;  for  while  we  think  it  necessary  for  girls 
to  take  special  training  to  become  bookkeepers,  teachers, 
nurses — careers  in  which  they  do  not  stay  all  their  lives — 
we  have  hardly  begun  to  realize  how  great  is  the  need  of 
sound  preparation  for  the  permanent  calling,  which  most 
young  women  may  be  expected  to  pursue,  the  making  of 
homes.^ 

Where  shall  the  future  mother  learn,  for  example,  sound 
principles  of  child  training  ?  In  the  simpler  homes  of  older 
days,  the  education  of  children  was  in  some  respects  easier 
for  the  mother  than  it  is  now.  Young  people  did  a  certain 
amount  of  work  in  the  household  and  were  taught  impor¬ 
tant  lessons  by  actually  partaking  in  the  dairying  and  other 
tasks  done  by  the  parents.  Pleasures  were  less  exciting, 
outside  distractions  were  fewer,  home  and  school  and  church 
were  in  closer  accord  and  worked  together  toward  simpler 
ends.  But  to-day  the  situation  is  immensely  more  complex 
and  calls  for  a  better  preparation  than  a  girl  can  get  by 
merely  following,  as  of  old,  the  household  principles  of  her 
grandmother.  Her  home-making  is  now  closely  linked  to 
her  responsibilities  as  a  citizen.  Women  are  less  apt  to  be, 

1  See  E.  J.  Putnam,  The  Lady.  See  also  ‘^Reorganization  of  Home 
Economies  in  Secondary  Schools”  (Government  Printing  Office, 
Washington,  D.  C.). 


DEMAND  FOR  VOCATIONAL  FITNESS  139 


as  men  are,  specialists  in  commerce  and  industry.  Through 
their  home  interests,  their  closer  relation  to  the  welfare  of 
the  children,  they  are  brought  into  an  intimate  personal 
contact  with  community  problems  which  the  overspecialized 
men-folk  are  not  so  likely  to  deem  important.  Take,  for  a 
single  illustration,  the  problem  of  supplying  a  modern  city 
with  pure  milk.  More  and  more  our  schools  must  now  pre¬ 
pare  for  the  broad-visioned  citizenship  which  is  becoming 
an  essential  part  of  the  mother’s  calling. 

When  we  turn  to  the  life  of  our  boys  in  industrial  and 
commercial  occupations,  we  find  a  tragic  lack  of  prepara¬ 
tion.  It  is  estimated  that  about  three-quarters  of  the  boys 
who  leave  school  enter  employments  which  require  little  or 
no  skill,  and  which,  therefore,  allow  them  little  or  no  men¬ 
tal  or  civic  growth.  As  to  the  skilled  trades  and  profes¬ 
sions,  few  persons  will  question  that  their  work  needs  to 
be  done  far  better  than  at  present. 

Now,  in  sketching  thus  briefiy  the  need  of  preparing  for 
the  callings,  we  have  presented  only  one  side  of  a  bafflingly 
many-sided  problem.  On  the  one  hand,  there  is  urgent 
need  for  vocational  training.  Neither  home  nor  guild  now 
teaches  trades.  But  one  institution  does  reach  every  boy 
and  girl  and  is  avowedly  dedicated  to  raising  the  level  of 
national  and  individual  life.  And  so  the  school  must  de¬ 
vote  more  energies  than  at  present  to  this  important 
function. 

On  the  other  hand,  we  must  face  this  important  counter¬ 
consideration :  How  can  we  tell  early  enough  just  what 
vocations  our  students  are  going  to  pursue?  May  we  not 
run  here  into  premature  specialization,  a  danger  that  the 
old  culture,  for  all  its  shortcomings,  was  less  likely  to  meet  1 
This  is  no  slight  difficulty.  Perhaps  at  no  time  more  than 
in  our  speedy  America  of  to-day  has  there  been  greater 
peril  of  forgetting  the  claims  of  a  noble  outlook  upon  life 
in  the  eagerness  to  lay  hold  upon  a  few  immediately  useful 


140 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


facts  and  skills.  Other  conditions  being  equal,  the  boy  who 
can  stay  at  college  until  he  is  twenty,  devoting  his  chief 
energies  to  acquaintance  with  the  best  that  has  been  known 
and  thought,  is  surely  more  likely  to  look  at  life  with 
broader  vision  than  the  boy  obliged  at  thirteen  to  begin 
concentrating  upon  electricity  or  plumbing  or  commercial 
subjects. 

But  to  urge  this  counter-claim  by  no  means  closes  the 
case  against  vocational  preparation.  The  need  for  it  can¬ 
not  be  denied,  especially  when  we  bear  in  mind  how  vast 
is  the  number  of  those  now  unfitted  for  any  life  work.  Is 
it  not  possible,  therefore,  to  devise  a  vocational  training 
that  shall  at  the  same  time  be  free  from  the  narrowness  of 
early  specialization?  Can  we  not,  in  preparing  boys  and 
girls  to  earn  a  living,  bring  them  to  that  ampler  outlook 
which  makes  earning  a  living  only  an  incident  in  making 
a  life  ? 

Our  current  vocational  training  does  unfortunately  tend 
to  be  too  specialized  and  technical.  Courses  in  household 
management,  for  instance,  as  ordinarily  given  fail  to  appeal 
to  many  young  women.  “We  go  to  college,”  they  say, 
get  ^ ideas, ^  not  to  acquire  this  or  that  domestic  skill.” 
Their  dissatisfaction  is  justified.  They  want  the  intellec¬ 
tual  stimulation  which  they  receive  from  literature  and  his¬ 
tory  and  philosophy,  but  which  they  do  not  get  from  the 
usual  courses  in  textiles  and  food  values.  The  professional 
schools  for  men  are  open  to  a  similar  charge,  for  they  are 
likewise  too  prone  to  ignore  the  claims  of  culture.  Year 
after  year  the  average  law-school  graduates  its  scores  of 
expert  crammers,  but  not  enough  students  of  law  and 
public-minded  lawyers.  The  medical  schools  turn  out  suc¬ 
cessful  candidates  for  licenses,  but  not  enough  doctors  and 
public-spirited  scientists.  The  engineering  schools  graduate 
their  draughtsmen  and  mechanicians,  but  not  a  sufficient 
number  of  engineering  scientists  and  artists. 


DEMAND  FOR  VOCATIONAL  FITNESS  141 


The  remedy  lies  in  ventures  comparatively  new.^  But 
some  day  young  men  and  women  will  begin  to  prepare 
themselves  at  college  or  high  school  for  their  vocations  and 
out  of  this  very  study  get  the  mental  enlargement,  the  sense 
of  broad,  cultivated  interest,  which  they  now  acquire  from 
a  proper  study  of  history  and  literature  and  biology,  for 
they  will  be  taught  to  see  how  their  life  work  is  related  to 
the  main  currents  of  the  world’s  spiritual  activity.  Girls, 
for  example,  in  preparing  to  make  homes,  will  learn  how 
the  home  shapes  public  taste  according  as  it  creates  a  de¬ 
mand  for  honest,  artistic  products  or  poorer  ones,  how  it 
can  profit  from  the  sciences  and,  in  turn,  set  them  to  formu¬ 
late  and  solve  new  problems,  how  it  influences  the  course 
of  man’s  moral  evolution  by  nurturing  the  qualities  that 
elevate  the  life  of  society  or  debase  it.® 

Objection  to  the  idea  of  education  for  leisure  does  not 
err  in  turning  to  the  vocational  aim.  The  error  lies  rather 
in  the  barrenness  of  the  vocational  aim  as  ordinarily  under¬ 
stood.  In  too  many  circles  to-day,  vocational  education 
means  training  a  ‘‘hand,”  a  productive  unit  which  some¬ 
one  can  quite  respectably  exploit  if  only  he  pays  it  the 
market  wage.  Instead,  the  aim  should  be  to  train  persons 
who  are  to  see  their  work  in  its  relations  to  the  world’s 
essential  needs  and  whose  performance  of  their  function  is 
to  help  them,  and  all  others  influenced  by  their  work,  be¬ 
come  better  persons.  This  is  the  central  thought  of  this 
chapter.  We  are  not  thinking  here  of  vocational  education 


2  It  will  be  interesting  to  watch  the  development  of  the  plan, 
initiated  at  Antioch  College,  to  combine  the  processes  of  culture 
and  vocational  training.  There  is  hope  in  a  plan  of  which  its 
sponsors  say,  “The  best  cultural  values  are  gained,  not  when  we 
escape  from  industry,  but  when  we  make  it  express  our  highest 
purposes.”  Everything,  of  course,  depends  on  how  those  “highest 
purposes”  are  conceived. 

3  See  A.  G.  Spencer,  Woman’s  Share  in  Social  Culture,  Ch.  VI, 

yii. 


142 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


as  a  mere  means  for  turning  out  hordes  of  workers  who 
will  fit  in  a  bit  more  efficiently  with  the  demands  of  to-day  ^s 
economic  order.  We  are  thinking  of  workers,  in  the  broad¬ 
est  sense  of  the  term,  who  will  make  a  beginning  even  to¬ 
day  toward  regarding  work  as  an  ethical  civilization  worthy 
of  the  name  would  regard  it — as  a  leading  opportunity  to 
develop  human  souls.  That  this  conception  will  require 
fundamental  changes  in  our  economic  system  goes  without 
saying.  There  must  be  a  shift  from  work  for  profit  to  work 
for  service.  How  this  will  eventually  be  effected  is  not  our 
concern  here.  Our  interest  is  in  the  need  for  a  changed 
point  of  view.  The  idea  to  be  kept  always  in  the  foreground 
is,  “How  can  work  contribute  to  the  making  of  better  per¬ 
sonality  ?  ’  ^ 

When  the  vocational  life  is  once  regarded  in  this  fashion, 
preparation  for  it  will  lack  none  of  the  large  and  generous 
outlook  fostered  by  the  classical  training  at  its  best.  As 
an  example  of  what  is  already  being  done,  see  the  oppor¬ 
tunities  in  the  preparation  for  the  teacher  ^s  profession. 
Here  the  student,  while  getting  ready  for  his  vocation,  is 
introduced  to  a  rich  variety  of  cultural  interests,  psychol¬ 
ogy,  biology,  anthropology.  He  is  brought  into  touch  with 
big  social  problems  such  as  the  influence  of  the  various 
educative  agencies  outside  the  classroom  like  play,  news¬ 
papers,  libraries,  settlement  houses,  the  industrial  situation. 
When  he  studies  the  history  of  education,  he  broadens  his 
outlook  by  trying  to  understand  what  men  considered  most 
worth  striving  for  in  Greece  and  Rome,  in  that  Orient 
which  is  fast  becoming  close  neighbor  to  the  West,  in 
mediaeval  and  modern  Europe.  Every  calling  has  its 
own  cultural  background,  in  its  science,  its  history,  and 
its  ethics. 

In  all  vocational  preparation,  the  clue  to  the  cultural 
values  is  to  study  the  ethical  import  of  the  world ^s  work: 
what  at  its  highest  should  the  work  of  the  world  set  itself 


DEMAND  FOR  VOCATIONAL  FITNESS  143 


to  accomplisli  ?  Let  us,  for  purposes  of  contrast  and  in 
illustration  of  the  mistaken  emphasis  still  current,  look  at 
the  following  program  for  vocational  study  in  a  large 
Western  high  school.  Observe  how  the  major  stress  is  laid 
upon  externals  and  incidentals.  The  students  are  asked: 
‘  ‘  How  great  is  the  demand  for  this  occupation  ?  How  many 
are  engaged  in  it?  Where  is  it  most  successful?  What 
rewards  does  it  offer  ?  What  talents  does  it  require  ?  What 
training  ?  ”  At  the  end  comes  a  moral  tag :  be  honest,  per¬ 
severing,  industrious;  and  whether,  as  a  result,  the  young 
man  only  adds  one  more  to  the  list  of  profiteers  or  hard 
employers  seems  to  be  of  slight  consequence.  The  one  ex¬ 
ternal  result  of  success  in  the  shape  of  money  or  position 
or  fame,  is  the  thought  put  in  the  foreground.  The  essen¬ 
tial  thing  to  teach,  however,  is  that  the  first  and  last  of  all 
worthy  successes  is  success  in  the  making  of  lives,  and  that 
this  is  the  object  to  which  everything  else  must  minister. 
Nothing  should  be  permitted  to  obscure  the  fact  that  the 
worth  of  one’s  work  is  measured  ultimately  by  the  type  of 
life  encouraged  in  all  who  take  part  in  it,  and  that,  for  the 
individual  worker,  the  greatest  return  is  the  finer  life  he 
himself  lives  in  the  attempt  to  promote  finer  life  in  all 
affected  by  his  endeavors. 

« 

What,  concretely,  does  this  ideal  require?  The  World 
War  made  some  people  more  familiar  than  before  with  the 
thought  that  the  aim  of  one ’s  work  should  be  service.^  But 
if  this  term  is  to  be  something  better  than  cant,  its  specific 
demands  need  constantly  to  be  reinterpreted.  Let  us  ex¬ 
amine  in  detail,  therefore,  the  difference  between  making 
a  living  and  making  a  life  and  the  concrete  requirements  of 

■*Not  all  of  us  caught  this  idea.  There  was  the  teacher  who, 
when  the  War  came,  is  reported  to  have  said:  “I  have  been  teaching 
twenty  years;  and  I  guess  now  I’ll  go  to  Washington  and  do  some 
patriotic  work.” 


144 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


that  service  in  the  rendering  of  which  the  personality  of 
all  affected  is  made  better. 

There  are  those  who  are  so  impressed  with  the  devastat¬ 
ing  effects  of  modern  machinery  that  they  see  little  hope 
in  work  as  a  means  of  improving  personality.  They  would 
have  the  main  effort  in  social  reform  go  to  reducing  the 
hours  of  labor  and  getting  mankind  to  improve  itself  in  the 
hours  of  leisure.  Against  this  conception  we  need  the  idea 
that  it  is  chiefly  through  one\s  work  that  one’s  life  should 
be  shaped  for  the  better. 

We  need  not  minimize  in  the  least  the  importance  of  a 
right  use  of  leisure.  Even  when  work  is  carried  on  under 
the  best  of  conditions,  the  leisure  hours  afford  their  special 
opportunity  for  self-improvement  through  the  very  fact 
that  the  mind  is  refreshed  by  occupation  with  something 
new.  But  the  circumstance  that  much  of  to-day’s  work 
mocks  our  hopes  for  betterment  is  no  warrant  for  aiming 
at  culture  chiefly  through  a  better  leisure.  The  wiser  way 
would  seem  to  be  to  fix  clearly  in  mind  our  ultimate  goals 
and  then  to  press  steadily  toward  them,  no  matter  how  huge 
the  obstacles.  In  being  contented  with  a  temporary  sub¬ 
stitute,  there  is  every  danger  of  losing  sight  of  the  worthier 
object.  It  is  possible,  for  example,  to  find  the  occupations 
of  one’s  leisure  so  captivating  as  to  forget  the  crying  need 
to  improve  those  conditions  of  work  from  which  our  leisure 
affords  but  a  happy  escape.  If  the  world  is  sick,  its  great¬ 
est  need  is  not  for  anodynes  but  for  cures.  Unless  this  fact 
is  faced  resolutely,  we  shall  be  only  too  likely  to  leave  in 
their  present  state  conditions  which  call  loudly  for  regen¬ 
eration.  Thus,  a  New  York  business  man,  testifying  to  the 
value  of  an  education  in  the  classics,  says 

I  believe  that  the  slow  processes  of  translation  of  the  classics 
(which  in  my  opinion  should  be  compulsory  in  the  academic 


5  William  Sloane  in  A.  F.  West,  The  Value  of  the  Classics,  p.  152. 


DEMAND  FOR  VOCATIONAL  FITNESS  145 


course  for  a  B.  A.  degree)  make  good  training  for  the  boy  who 
has  chosen  a  business  career.  The  business  man^s  day  is  prosaic, 
the  men  he  meets  are  as  a  rule  men  of  little  or  no  schooling.  The 
business  principles  he  finds  are  not  always  in  accord  with  his 
preconceived  ideas  of  honesty;  there  isn’t  much  art  or  poetry  in 
it  all;  and  unless  he  has  something  to  fall  back  upon,  some 
background  to  his  life  and  thought,  some  such  continual  source 
of  quiet  comfort  and  pleasure  as  a  classical  education  will  afford, 
his  life  will  be  a  very  empty  thing. 

What  a  light  this  throws  upon  current  standards:  per¬ 
sonality  developed  in  leisure,  not  through,  and  because  of, 
one ’s  daily  tasks,  but  either  in  escape  from  them  or  in  spite 
of  them !  It  is  akin  to  the  code  that  permits  a  man  to  play 
the  business  game  on  more  or  less  questionable  lines  and 
recover  his  self-respect  by  devoting  his  leisure  and  his 
profits  to  philanthropy.  The  world  is  badly  sick  for  lack 
of  higher  codes. 

Culture  must  not  be  a  narcotic.  It  should  help  us  to  get 
rid  of  to-day’s  sickness,  the  wrong  distinction  between  mak¬ 
ing  a  living  and  making  a  life.  The  difference  comes  home 
acutely  when  we  think  of  the  reasons  why  many  a  father, 
in  spite  of  his  material  success,  prefers  not  to  have  his  sons 
continue  his  career.  A  well-reputed  business  man  was  ap¬ 
proached  by  a  friend  for  advice  to  a  young  man  who 
contemplated  entering  the  same  calling.  The  friend  was 
startled  at  the  earnestness  with  which  the  business  man 
said,  ‘ '  Tell  him  to  keep  out  of  it.  When  you  take  it  all  in 
all,  it  is  just  a  refined  skin  game. '  ’  The  man  would  hardly 
have  spoken  so  openly  if  he  had  not  been  asked  to  start  a 
young  life  on  the  right  road. 

Not  at  all  that  moral  injury  is  the  only,  or  even  the  chief, 
consequence  of  most  callings.  There  are  men  who  can  look 
back  upon  their  careers  and  say  that  their  work  has  made 
them  more  intelligent,  more  broad-minded,  better  capable 
of  understanding  life,  better  able  to  get  on  with  people, 
more  convinced  that  rectitude  pays,  not  in  the  narrow 


146 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


sense  alone  but  in  the  deeper  satisfaction  born  of  life-long 
fidelity  to  high  principle.  They  have  learned  this  much 
about  life  and  learned  it  in  the  only  genuine  way — by 
having  practiced  it.  All  the  more  pity  then  that  a  life 
work  does  not  bring  such  returns  to  every  man  and  that 
even  in  those  whom  it  does  make  better  in  some  directions, 
there  are  other  effects  less  wholesome.  How  many  have 
had  their  outlook  cramped  by  the  constant  struggle  to  keep 
their  heads  above  water!  In  many,  a  certain  sharp  ruth¬ 
lessness  has  been  encouraged.  Many  have  had  their  boy¬ 
hood  enthusiasms  battered  out  of  shape  by  grasping  em¬ 
ployers  or  rascally  competitors,  or  by  unfair  dealing  on  the 
part  of  labor  unions.  In  some  the  edge  of  their  civic  sense 
has  been  dulled.  They  count  it  unpatriotic  for  a  man  to 
consult  his  own  concerns  first  in  refusing  to  enlist  in  the 
army  in  time  of  peril;  but,  to  judge  from  their  own  expe¬ 
rience,  it  is  not  unpatriotic  at  election  time  to  look  out  for 
number  one  and  east  a  vote  solely  to  benefit  their  special 
business  interest.® 

Students  of  hygiene  have  become  interested  to-day  in 
‘^occupational  diseases.”  An  equally  careful  study  might 
well  be  given  to  the  occupational  diseases  of  the  spirit. 
Business  is  far  from  being  the  only  calling  which  is  subject 
to  this  harmful  influence.  The  teacher,  for  example,  whom 
others  envy  for  not  being  tempted,  has  his  peculiar  perils. 
Pedantry  and  censoriousness  are  familiar  illustrations.  On 
the  other  hand,  there  are  the  splendid  opportunities  which 


6  When  the  War  was  over,  we  heard  -of  the  great  need  to  increase 
production.  This  cry  was  usually  directed  against  the  working¬ 
men.  But  there  were  few  who  would  have  directed  it  against  the 
possessors  of  money,  for  example,  who  refused  to  put  their  money 
into  badly  needed  housing  projects,  because  they  could  get  a  higher 
return  by  investing  it  somewhere  else.  And  yet  there  was  no  graver 
need  throughout  the  land  than  the  need  for  increased  housing 
facilities.  It  is  very  easy  to  let  the  struggle  for  an  income  blunt 
the  finer  perceptions  of  public  spirit. 


DEMAND  FOR  VOCATIONAL  FITNESS  147 


make  Professor  Palmer  say,  ‘  ‘  Harvard  University  pays  me 
for  doing  what  I  would  gladly  pay  Harvard  for  the  privi¬ 
lege  of  letting  me  do.”  Such  a  spirit  wards  off  the  occu¬ 
pational  perils. 

These  effects  upon  the  worker  himself  must  be  kept  in 
the  foreground.  Each  calling  has  its  perils  and  oppor¬ 
tunities.  To  be  a  lawyer,  for  example,  and  be  obliged  to 
look  at  both  sides  of  a  question  ought  to  make  a  man  espe¬ 
cially  large-minded.  The  fact  that  he  is  presumed  to  see 
that  justice  is  done  and  that  he  is  the  one  who  watches  the 
actual  workings  of  the  law,  should  mark  him  out  particu¬ 
larly  as  the  man  to  be  interested  in  obtaining  better  laws 
and  a  more  complete  justice,  and  in  making  a  constant 
effort  to  banish  the  distinction  between  what  is  legal  and 
what  is  right.  This  is  what  their  work  has  done  for  the 
world  ^s  noblest  lawyers.  Although  it  has  made  some  ex¬ 
ceedingly  conservative,  it  has  spurred  others  to  seek  ways 
of  establishing  better  relations.  Hugo  Grotius,  pioneer  in 
the  field  of  international  law,  was  a  corporation  lawyer. 
Abraham  Lincoln  received  his  training  in  the  law,  and  it 
made  him  a  better,  not  a  worse,  public  servant.  Sir  Thomas 
More,  the  author  of  Utopia ^  stands  out  as  one  of  the  great¬ 
est  figures  of  the  Renaissance  for  the  martyrdom  he  under¬ 
went  in  defense  of  what  he  conceived  to  be  legal  right. 
Neither  the  bribes  nor  the  threats  of  King  Henry  could 
move  him  to  say  that  the  illegal  decision  desired  by  the 
king  was  lawful. 

Contributions  of  this  sort  to  a  man’s  life  we  should  ex¬ 
pect  from  the  fact  that  the  lawyer  is  the  agent  of  justice; 
but  the  expectation  is  not  always  fulfilled.  One  would 
hardly  like  to  count  the  number  of  those  of  whom  the 
cynical  remark  made  by  Samuel  Butler  long  ago  is  still 
true  that  ^‘the  lawyer’s  opinion  is  one  thing  while  it  is  his 
own  and  another  when  it  is  paid  for.  ”  It  is  quite  true  that 
the  lawyer  is  not  alone  in  this  occupational  evil.  The  min- 


148 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


ister,  the  public  speaker,  the  editor,  are  likewise  tempted 
to  such  sin  against  the  chastity  of  the  intellect.  There  are, 
however,  other  and  subtler  reactions  for  the  lawyer  to  guard 
against.  He  is  likely  to  take  a  severe  legalistic  view  of 
human  failure  at  points  where  more  liberal  estimates  would 
be  more  just.  His  training  inclines  him  to  ignore,  or,  at 
least,  to  minimize,  motives  and  to  consider  only  the  overt 
act.  Hence,  he  is  apt  to  be  unduly  hard  on  those  who  offend 
his  sense  of  correctness  wh^re  gentler  judgments  may  often 
be  more  genuinely  just  than  the  strict  literalness  that  his 
training  encourages.”^ 

For  the  great  mass  of  industrial  workers,  the  occupational 
perils  are  coming  to  be  better  recognized.  A  sound  voca¬ 
tional  training  would  make  our  young  people  aware  of  both 
the  benefits  and  the  perils  due  to  modern  machinery.  It  is 
a  fact,  for  example,  that  machines  have  helped  the  workers 
by  encouraging  the  demand  for  popular  education.  In  the 
days  of  handicraft,  the  worker  could  be  quite  skilled  even 
though  he  was  illiterate.  This  is  impossible  in  an  age  of 
machinery;  and  it  is  significant  that  the  movement  for 
popular  education  on  the  broader  scale  was  most  encour¬ 
aged  where  modern  machinery  was  most  employed.  On  the 
other  hand,  there  are  the  obvious  injuries  to  personality 
that  have  come  from  the  overspecialization  of  modern  work, 
the  monotony,  which  have  been  too  often  dwelt  upon  to  be 
rehearsed  here.®  Perhaps  the  chief  complaint  against  mod¬ 
em  machinery  in  a  democracy  is  that  it  gives  the  worker 

7  Mr.  Justice  Brandeis  says :  “The  law  has  always  been  a  narrow", 
conservatizing  profession.  In  England  it  was  always  easy  for  a 
Tory  government  to  find  great  lawyers  for  judicial  officers,  but  for  a 
Liberal  government  it  is  hard.  And  so  it  has  been  throughout  his¬ 
tory.  Nearly  all  of  England’s  great  lawyers  were  Tories.”  { Business 
a  Profession.)  See  also  Chapters  V  and  VI,  “Professional  Con¬ 
servatism,”  in  Graham  Wallas’  Our  Social  Heritage. 

8  See  Arthur  Pound,  The  Iron  Man  in  Industry,  Ordway  Tead, 
Instincts  in  Industry H.  M.  Marot,  The  Creative  Impulse  in 
Industry. 


DEMAND  FOR  VOCATIONAL  FITNESS  149 


no  chance  to  use  his  brain  on  anything  more  than  a  dull, 
deadening  repetition  of  some  slight  portion  of  an  entire 
task  for  whose  inception  he  is  in  nowise  responsible  and 
in  whose  execution  he  plays  only  a  mechanical  part.  The 
managers  and  the  heads  are  educated  by  their  work  be¬ 
cause  they  do  have  to  meet  these  larger  problems.  The 
operative  has  no  share  and  is  stunted  mentally. 

In  every  vocation,  absorption  in  the  means  is  likely  to 
obscure  the  vision  of  ultimate  ends  and  is  therefore  likely 
to  defeat  those  ends.  The  mother  engrossed  in  making  a 
home  may  become  so  absorbed  in  house-cleaning,  cooking, 
mending,  as  to  have  neither  time  nor  energy  to  interest  her¬ 
self  in  the  best  justification  of  these  endeavors,  the  better 
inner  life  in  her  children.  Overconfinement  to  household 
details  too  often  unfits  her  to  take  the  necessary  interest  in 
the  school  work  of  her  boys  and  girls,  in  their  fun,  their 
comradeship,  their  reading,  their  special  talents,  their  se¬ 
cret  ambitions  and  the  other  occasions  for  that  full  confi¬ 
dence  which  only  the  mother,  and  not  the  overburdened 
housekeeper,  can  enjoy. 

The  way  out  of  these  occupational  perils  is  a  positive 
ideal,  high  and  broad  enough  to  include  as  essential  this 
need  to  keep  foremost  the  infiuence  upon  the  human  spirit. 
Such  an  ideal,  we  have  said,  is  that  of  service.  But  the 
highest  service  any  calling  may  render  is  to  raise  the  qual¬ 
ity  of  life  in  all  the  persons  whom  it  brings  into  relation 
with  one  another. 

First  is  the  need  of  right  relations  with  the  public  which 
is  served  or  disserved  by  the  vocational  products.  It  is 
possible  to  make  things  that  are  utterly  bad.  There  are 
men  who  are  not  above  earning  a  living,  for  instance,  by 
making  fraudulent  patent  medicines.  Others  are  willing  to 
supply  newspapers  that  offer  gross  perversions  or  suppres¬ 
sions  of  fact,  downright  mendacity.  All  honor  should  be 
paid  to  men  like  Jacob  Riis  who  used  his  calling  as  a  re- 


150  EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


porter  to  stir  the  conscience  of  New  York  City  into  sadly 
needed  social  reform.  When  one  considers  how  easy  it  is 
to  make  a  rather  despicable  use  of  the  journalist’s  calling, 
one  feels  the  more  how  necessary  it  is  to  offer  our  youth 
the  stimulus  of  every  better  example  we  can  find.  The  con¬ 
duct  of  the  Associated  Advertising  Clubs  some  years  ago 
in  pledging  themselves  not  to  handle  what  had  hitherto 
been  a  lucrative  business,  the  advertising  of  fraudulent 
medicines,  is  the  sort  of  thing  of  which  our  students  should 
be  told.  There  was  a  time  when  the  only  attitude  toward 
practices  now  considered  questionable  or  disreputable  was 
that  of  old  Falstaff  who,  on  being  twitted  for  stealing 
purses,  made  answer,  “Why  Hal,  it  is  my  vocation;  it  is 
not  sin  for  a  man  to  labor  in  his  vocation.”  When  the 
advertising  men  came  to  think  of  their  vocation  as  a  chance 
to  render  service  to  society,  Falstaff’s  answer  no  longer 
saved  them  from  self-reproach. 

The  value  of  some  commodities  and  “services”  is  more 
open  to  debate  than  it  is  in  other  instances,  but  the  school 
must  not  evade  the  issues.  It  is  well,  for  example,  to  con¬ 
sider  with  young  people  the  ethical  problems  involved  in 
the  manufacture  of  luxuries.  On  the  one  hand,  we  must 
bear  in  mind  the  importance  of  producing  things  of  beauty, 
whose  value  lies  in  something  other  than  their  ministry  to 
the  gross  physical  necessities.  It  is  also  essential  to  civil¬ 
ized  life  that  those  things  be  made  that  minimize  the 
drudgeries  and  the  frictions  of  life,  thereby  releasing  en¬ 
ergies,  in  those  who  wish  so  to  use  them,  for  better  pur¬ 
poses.  On  the  other  hand,  we  must  guard  against  the 
fallacies  so  often  urged  when  the  problem  of  luxuries  is 
brought  up,  for  example,  that  the  making  of  luxuries  gives 
employment,  ignoring  the  fact  that  such  employment  might 
better  go  to  the  making  of  products  more  essential  to  man ’s 
well-being.  For  a  time  we  saw  this  truth  during  the  War. 

Men  are  not  at  all  ashamed  to  make  ten  per  cent  or  more 


DEMAND  FOR  VOCATIONAL  FITNESS  151 


on  the  manufacture  of  utterly  useless  or  possibly  harmful 
things  when  the  need  is  ever  pressing  for  increasing  the 
production,  improving  the  quality,  and  lowering  the  cost 
of  vital  necessities.  A  sound  public  opinion,  such  as  we 
have  the  right  to  expect  schools  and  colleges  to  generate, 
would  keep  us  from  paying  the  honors  now  offered  to  com¬ 
mercial  success  regardless  of  whether  the  service  rendered 
in  the  amassing  of  the  fortune  was  not  really  a  public  dis¬ 
service.  Especially  would  young  men,  before  they  are 
already  committed  to  given  business  careers,  be  advised  in 
choosing  between  two  types  of  business,  to  select  the  one 
which  offers  the  better  chance  to  serve  the  public.  Their 
first  question  should  be,  not  ‘‘What  can  I  do?’’  but  “What, 
of  the  things  I  can  do,  does  the  world  need  most  ?  ’  ’ 

In  these  discussions,  there  need,  of  course,  be  no  asper¬ 
sions  cast  upon  those  already  engaged  in  careers  that  the 
class  deems  less  beneficial.  It  should  be  told  how  people 
often  drift  into  certain  callings  because  they  have  no  real 
chance  to  choose  and  that  the  object  of  discussing  these 
questions  is  to  help  young  people,  who  still  have  the  oppor¬ 
tunity  to  select,  to  make  the  wisest  use  of  their  freedom. 

Not  only  must  the  relationship  to  the  public  be  improved 
through  the  quality  of  the  product.  Vocational  service 
must,  in  the  second  place,  be  extended  to  groups  now  de¬ 
prived  of  it.  In  an  earlier  chapter  mention  was  made  of  the 
numbers  whose  need  of  the  services  of  lawyers  and  physi¬ 
cians  is  not  met  under  prevailing  practices.®  Specialists,  as 
a  rule,  tend  to  sell  their  gifts  to  the  highest  bidders,  regard¬ 
less  of  whether  others  equally  deserving  of  their  ministra¬ 
tions  must  thereby  go  without.  Only  ten  per  cent  of  our 
population,  it  has  been  estimated,  get  sufficient  dental  care. 
The  best  of  our  practitioners  in  law  and  medicine  are  slowly 
beginning  to  take  these  facts  to  heart.  When  we  think  of 


9  See  p.  18. 


152 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


the  work  done  by  men  like  Dr.  Walter  Reed  in  stamping 
out  yellow  fever,  we  see  how  the  conception  of  medical 
science  as  a  public  service  has  grown.  Among  opportuni¬ 
ties  besides  those  in  preventive  medicine  might  be  men¬ 
tioned  the  study  of  occupational  hygiene,  a  closer  relation 
between  science  and  psychology  to  forestall  the  absurdities 
and  quackeries  perpetrated  in  the  name  of  psychology,  and 
especially  the  chance  to  reach  those  now  outside  the  care  of 
medical  men  through  such  social  efforts  as  are  now  familiar 
to  European  practitioners.  Thus  the  Survey,  speaking  of 
the  fact  that,  in  spite  of  modern  science,  many  diseases  are 
actually  gaining  upon  us,  says : 

The  present  method  of  unorganized  private  medical  practice, 
devoted  and  conscientious  as  are  the  rank  and  file  of  the  profes¬ 
sion,  has  been  tried  and  found  wanting.  Real  progress  in  all 
allied  fields  has  resulted  largely  from  organized  research,  from 
the  use  of  social  devices,  such  as  health  departments,  sanitary 
commissions,  etc.  Can  private  practice,  through  socialization, 
win  the  battles  it  is  losing  now? 

Like  medicine  and  law,  the  artistic  vocations  also  have  a 
great  work  to  do  in  extending  their  services  to  bodies  of 
the  community  as  yet  unreached.  Architect,  painter,  sculp¬ 
tor,  musician,  dramatist,  all  have  ample  work  cut  out  for 
them  in  this  respect.  So  has  the  teacher.  There  is  an  im¬ 
portant  challenge  to  every  educator  in  the  fact  that  every¬ 
where  throughout  the  country  there  are  springing  up  work¬ 
ingmen ’s  colleges.^^  These  institutions  have  come  into  being 
because  the  workers  are  convinced  that  the  traditional  insti¬ 
tutions  of  learning  cannot,  or  will  not,  supply  the  teaching 
needed  in  these  changing  times.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that 
in  all  the  present-day  discussion  of  preparation  for  the 
calling,  practically  no  attention  has  been  given  outside  of 


10  Survey,  Aug.  16,  1920,  p.  632. 

11  See  A.  H.  Gleason,  Workers'  Education  (Bureau  of  Industrial 
Research,  289  Fourth  Avenue,  New  York). 


DEMAND  FOR  VOCATIONAL  FITNESS  153 


these  workingmen ’s  colleges  to  training  for  one  of  the  most 
important  of  modern  vocations,  namely,  that  of  the  labor 
leader.  Surely  few  vocations  call  for  sounder  judgment, 
more  informed  intelligence,  broader  public  spirit  than  this. 
Yet,  where  are  the  schools  and  colleges  that  keep  in  mind 
the  necessity  for  right  training  in  this  field? 

All  these  considerations  are  quite  germane  to  the  con¬ 
ception  of  the  vocation  as  a  public  service.  Attention 
should  also  be  called  to  the  fact  that  every  calling  radiates 
some  influence  upon  other  callings.  Modern  business,  for 
example,  has  given  a  certain  impetus  to  art  in  opening  up 
a  new  field  through  the  demand  for  better  advertising. 
Fortunately,  men  no  longer  think  that  the  best  advertising 
is  the  noisiest.  There  is  excellent  chance  for  commerce  and 
art  to  influence  each  other  helpfully.  In  the  same  way 
business  and  science  have  stimulated  each  other.^^  Busi¬ 
ness  has  set  new  problems  and  opened  up  dozens  of  new 
careers  for  men  of  science.  It  has  set  new  problems  in 
psychology,  for  example,  the  study  of  vocational  aptitudes. 
The  general  problem  of  industrial  psychology  is  being  ex¬ 
plored  to-day  in  ways  that  will  be  fruitful,  not  only  for 
industry,  but  for  psychology  itself.  The  work  of  men  like 
Professor  Parker  in  studying  the  psychic  roots  of  industrial 
unrest  will  surely  be  productive  beyond  its  own  sphere.^^ 


12  The  initial  impulse  to  Pasteur’s  epoch-making  researches  in 
fermentation  came  from  the  fact  that  he  was  called  to  be  dean  of  a 
college  in  Lille.  As  one  of  the  leading  industries  of  the  neighbor¬ 
hood  was  the  manufacture  of  wines  and  vinegars,  he  thought  that 
part  of  the  work  of  the  institution  should  concern  itself  with  the 
problems  of  fermentation.  Before  he  studied  rabies,  the  needs  of 
commerce  had  sent  him  to  his  researches  in  the  diseases  of  silk¬ 
worms,  cattle,  and  poultry. 

13  See  C.  S.  Parker,  An  American  Idyll,  also  C.  Parker,  The  Casual 
Laborer  and  Other  Essays.  Indeed,  it  is  possible  that  these  pioneer 
efforts  may  yet  be  found  as  helpful  as  the  work  of  Rousseau  for 
“natural”  education,  with  all  its  shortcomings,  was  found  to  be  for 
the  schools. 


154 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


To  lift  these  broad  effects  of  the  occupational  life  into 
clearer  relief,  and  to  get  from  the  vocational  studies  the 
rich  liberalizing  influence  which  they  are  eminently  capable 
of  yielding,  the  historian  should  be  called  upon  for  the 
history  of  vocational  contributions  to  human  progress. 
Consider,  for  example,  some  of  the  better  effects  that  have 
resulted  from  the  extension  of  commerce.  It  is  no  accident 
that  so  many  of  the  leading  cities  in  the  ancient  world  were 
commercial.  Athens,  the  glory  of  the  scholar,  engaged  in 
world  trade.  So  did  Rome,  Carthage,  Tyre,  and  Alexan¬ 
dria.  The  city  of  Venice,  begun  as  a  group  of  huts  on  a 
heap  of  mud-flats  as  a  refuge  from  Attila,  was  transformed 
by  commerce  into  the  proud  queen  of  the  Adriatic.  It  was 
the  search  for  trade  routes  that  led  to  the  discovery  of 
America.  The  Hanseatic  League  built  roads,  bridges, 
canals  and  turned  thousands  of  acres  of  barren  wastes  into 
fields  of  flax,  wheat,  and  hemp.  American  merchants  were 
responsible  for  the  laying  of  the  Atlantic  cable. 

Justice  should  be  done  to  the  work  of  the  trader  in 
spreading  a  knowledge  of  life’s  beauties  and  refinements. 
Many  of  our  common  flowers  to-day  like  the  tulip  are  na¬ 
tives  of  the  Orient  brought  to  Europe  by  the  Dutch  mer¬ 
chant.  It  was  the  trader  who  introduced  to  the  Western 
world  such  elementary  requisites  as  soap  and  napkins,  used 
by  the  Arabs,  but  unknown  to  Christendom.  High-born 
folk  employed  their  fingers  at  the  meal  table  in  England 
until  merchants  brought  the  fork  from  Italy.  Commerce 
made  accessible  innumerable  new  articles  of  diet.  Coffee 
brought  from  Arabia  by  the  Venetians,  tea  from  China  by 
the  Dutch,  cocoa  from  Mexico  by  the  Spaniards,  have 
meant  much  to  a  world  dependent  chiefly  upon  alcoholic 
liquors  for  stimulants. 

But  the  transmission  of  commodities  is  not  the  most  im¬ 
portant  part  of  the  story.  Justice  should  also  be  accorded 
to  the  service  of  business  in  the  interchange  of  ideas.  It 


DEMAND  FOR  VOCATIONAL  FITNESS  155 


was  in  commerce  that  the  Dutch  learned  the  use  of  the 
windmill.  It  is  characteristic  that  the  methods  of  sanita¬ 
tion  found  so  successful  in  Cuba  and  Panama  are  being 
extended  to  the  tropical  cities  in  South  America  with  which 
trade  is  now  increasing.  Such  has  always  been  the  result 
of  the  closer  acquaintance  fostered  by  commerce.  The  mer¬ 
chant  is  not  a  mere  seller  and  buyer.  He  is  a  person  with 
human  interests  and  a  brain  open  to  ideas.  He  has  there¬ 
fore  played  no  little  part  in  breaking  down  the  barriers  of 
misunderstanding.  In  the  old  days,  when  the  church  taught 
that  infidels  like  the  Saracens  were  utter  barbarians  to  be 
completely  shunned,  the  merchant  learned  better.  With 
his  own  eyes  he  saw  their  stately  temples  and  their  schools 
thronged  with  students,  he  beheld  tlieir  scientific  apparatus, 
and  he  brought  back  more  than  their  spices  and  fine  rai¬ 
ment  ;  he  brought  back  at  least  one  man ’s  previous  mis¬ 
conceptions  greatly  lessened.^'^ 


14  Few  studies  can  be  made  more  liberalizing  than  an  understand¬ 
ing  of  the  part  played  by  merchants  in  the  Renaissance,  when  the 
superstitions,  the  brutalities,  and  the  cramping  provincialisms  of 
the  feudal  system  gave  way  to  modern  ideals  in  government,  religion, 
and  ethics.  The  Rennaissance  marks  the  emergence  of  modern 
nationalities  with  single  administrations  for  whole  countries.  In 
this  work,  the  kings  were  obliged  to  consolidate  their  power  against 
the  multitudes  of  squabbling  barons  who  kept  the  country  in  turmoil 
and  levied  all  sorts  of  restrictive  tolls.  The  merchants  were  on  the 
side  of  the  kings.  They  aided,  likewise,  in  breaking  the  power  of 
the  church.  It  was  no  accident  that  Martin  Luther  had  the  backing 
of  the  business  men  in  Germany,  or  that  cities  like  Antwerp,  Ghent, 
Amsterdam,  and  Brussels  furnished  the  money  for  the  struggle  of 
the  Netherlands  against  Spain.  The  church  persecuted;  business, 
by  and  large,  was  tolerant.  Amsterdam  profited  by  admitting  the 
Jews  driven  out  of  Spain  just  as  England  did  later  by  admitting  the 
Huguenots.  The  history  of  modern  times  might  have  been  different 
if  Spain  had  succeeded  in  conquering  commercial  England  and  the 
commercial  Netherlands.  The  merchant  is  not  necessarily  a  finer 
being  than  the  knight,  but  in  one  respect  he  excelled  the  feudal 
baron  whom  he  gradually  displaced.  The  latter  won  his  power  by 
slaughtering  other  people  and  annexing  their  lands.  The  merchant 
rose  to  power  by  the  exchange  of  goods.  The  baron  trusted  to  force, 


156 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


But  there  is  an  uglier  side  to  the  story  of  influence  of 
commerce  upon  civilization.  Gladly  would  we  omit  such 
items  as  England’s  war  with  China  in  the  last  century, 
the  Opium  War,  or  the  outrages  attendant  upon  the  ex¬ 
ploitation  of  the  rubber  districts  of  the  Congo  and  the 
Amazon,  not  to  mention  the  many  wars  for  exclusive 
rights  to  trade  and  investment.  The  Industrial  Revolution 
brought  child  labor,  the  reckless  wasting  of  natural  re¬ 
sources,  the  excessive  draining  off  of  the  rural  population 
to  the  towns,  and  dozens  of  other  effects  which  a  less  indif¬ 
ferent  attitude  would  perhaps  have  forestalled.  The  reason 
for  these  worse  products  is  that  like  the  gains  to  civiliza¬ 
tion,  they  were  mere  incidents  to  business  activities  in 
which  the  ethical  goals  were  never  thought  of.  Because 
there  was  no  idea  of  business  as  essentially  a  mode  of  per¬ 
forming  a  public  service,  there  came  from  it  terrific  evil  no 
less  real  than  the  good. 

The  purpose  of  all  this  cultural  study  in  connection  with 
the  vocations  is  to  supply  the  background  against  which 
the  student  may  see  the  need  for  making  whatever  public 
service  the  vocation  has  rendered  a  still  better  service.  The 
point  should  be  impressed^  that  not  only  in  the  professions 
should  there  be  so-called  professional  standards,  and  that 
even  where  such  codes  exist  in  the  professions  and  trades, 
the  task  of  the  ethically  minded  is  to  elevate  the  standards 
they  prescribe. 

To-day,  for  example,  the  next  big  step  in  ethical  progress 
for  the  business  man  is  to  bring  about  better  relations 
between  the  heads  of  industry  and  the  laboring  classes.  To 


or  to  luck  like  a  gambler.  The  merchant  relied  upon  intelligence, 
foresight,  and  thrift.  It  was  once  thought  that  only  the  man  of 
noble  blood  was  a  fit  person  to  govern  society.  Contrast  the  part 
played  in  government  to-day  by  chambers  of  commerce,  by  taxpayers' 
associations,  and  labor  unions. 


DEMAND  FOR  VOCATIONAL  FITNESS  157 


many  business  men,  fair  play  to  the  worker  means,  at  most, 
granting  him  the  market  wage  and  keeping  contracts  with 
him.  But  the  more  sensitive  types  are  learning  that  the 
wage  which  the  worker  is  forced  to  accept  under  fear  of 
losing  his  job  hardly  forms  the  basis  for  the  fairest  kind  of 
contract.  And  even  more  important  than  the  question  of 
wages  is  the  matter  of  admitting  the  worker  to  participation 
in  the  management  of  industry.  Just  as  it  is  definitely  a 
point  of  honor  now  to  give  honest  service,  the  next  task  of 
the  business  man  is  to  make  it  a  point  of  honor  to  bring 
the  conditions  of  modern  labor  more  and  more  into  line 
with  the  demands  of  ethical  democracy. 

At  its  very  lowest  this  means  that  the  human  quality  in 
the  workers  can  no  longer  be  counted  a  negligible  or  second¬ 
ary  affair.  One  enters  the  show-room  of  a  factory  and  sees 
the  splendid  fabrics,  the  result  of  painstaking  effort  to  get 
the  best  of  texture,  the  most  artistic  of  color  effects.  Every 
night  the  stock  is  put  away  carefully  and  guarded  against 
dust  or  dampness  or  anything  that  may  in  the  least  injure 
it.  But  there  is  much  less  care  taken  of  the  other  products 
of  our  factories,  the  men,  the  women,  the  youths,  who  pour 
out  upon  the  sidewalk  when  the  whistle  blows.  Their  deep¬ 
est  needs  cannot  be  met  off-hand  by  denouncing  our  present 
economic  system  or  by  waiting  for  blind  evolution  to  bring 
changes.  They  should  bring  home  to  us  the  special  chal¬ 
lenge  of  to-day.  Men  who  want  their  experience  in  business 
to  count  for  something  permanent  in  the  world’s  progress 
will  find  here  their  chief  task.  They  apply  their  gifts  of 
organization  usually  to  the  task  of  managing  production, 
distribution,  financing.  But  this  work  cannot  begin  to  com¬ 
pare  in  importance  with  the  need  to  which  only  a  few  have 
as  yet  been  willing  to  apply  themselves,  the  task  of  blazing 
the  trail  to  democratic  relationship  among  men  in  their 
work  hours. 

There  are  indeed  business  men  who  realize  the  mockery 


158  EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


inherent  in  our  efforts  to  get  international  peace  while  we 
have  no  peace  as  yet  within  our  own  cities.  Witness,  for 
example,  the  declaration  made  in  1919  by  a  group  of  twenty 
British  Quaker  employers,  who  met  for  four  days  to  discuss 
how  they  could  give  their  religious  faith  fuller  expression 
in  their  business  life  and  especially  in  the  relations  between 
employers  and  employed.  They  concluded  that  the  sup¬ 
posed  right  of  employers  to  dictate  to  workers  the  condi¬ 
tions  under  which  labor  power  should  be  sold  could  no 
longer  be  maintained,  that  a  new  day  had  come  whose 
watchword  was  cooperation,  and  that  in  practice  this  meant 
the  frank  avowal  that  all  matters  affecting  the  workers 
should  be  decided,  not,  as  heretofore,  by  the  orders  of  the 
masters,  but  by  masters  and  men  both.  ‘‘Pioneers  and 
explorers  and  road-makers  are  needed  just  as  urgently  in 
the  industrial  sphere  as  in  the  opening  up  of  new  tracts  of 
fertile  country,  ’  ’  said  these  British  employers ;  and  with  an 
initiative  not  lacking,  we  may  be  sure,  in  our  own  ener¬ 
getic  country,  they  have  taken  it  upon  themselves  as  a  re¬ 
ligious  obligation  to  begin  building  these  sorely  needed 
roads.^® 

Such  pioneering  is  already  under  way  in  America.  Far¬ 
sighted  business  men  are  recognizing  that  times  have 
changed  for  the  whole  globe  and  that  we  can  no  more 
expect  to  deal  without  the  new  self-consciousness  on  the 
part  of  the  working  classes  than  a  man  can  expect  his  boy 
of  sixteen  to  go  back  and  be  as  implicitly  obedient  as  he 
was  at  six.  The  business  men  who  see  furthest  ahead  admit 
this.  They  know  that  they  can  give  their  men  gymnasiums, 
rest  rooms,  insurance  policies,  and  other  forms  of  welfare 
work,  but  that  this  benevolent  paternalism  will  not  settle 
the  problem.  To  recognize  that  the  workers  require,  not 
gifts  from  above,  but  the  right  to  share  in  the  ordering  of 


16  See  Survey,  May,  1919. 


DEMAND  FOR  VOCATIONAL  FITNESS  159 


their  lives,  is  the  next  step  forward  to  a  better  indus¬ 
trial  day. 

This  recognition  of  the  right  of  the  man  to  participate 
in  the  control  of  his  work  is  a  point  one  would  suppose 
likely  to  carry  home  with  special  force  in  a  republic  based 
on  the  faith  that  men  grow  great  to  the  extent  that  they 
themselves  carrj^  the  responsibility  for  their  collective  life. 
Democracy  means  sharing  in  an  effective  way  the  respon¬ 
sibility  and  the  initiative  of  the  group  in  which  we  live. 
Whether  our  group  is  the  home,  or  the  city,  or  the  factory 
where  we  work,  or  the  school  where  we  teach,  our  life  in  it 
is  democratic  to  the  extent  that  we  share  in  deciding  what 
the  life  of  that  group  is  going  to  be  and  what  are  the  aims 
toward  which  that  life  shall  be  directed. 

Two  statements  on  this  head  deserve  quotation.  They 
are  copied  from  an  ethical  code  drawn  up  by  the  Business 
Men’s  Group  of  the  New  York  Society  for  Ethical  Culture 
in  1921 : 

All  commercial  and  industrial  activity  should  be  regarded  as 
having  for  one  of  its  nobler  ends  the  retroactive  influence  exerted, 
in  the  stimulation  of  the  superior  faculties  in  human  beings,  and 
the  promotion  of  civilization  in  its  disinterested  aspects.  Man 
is  a  spiritual  being  who  is  bound  down  to  physical  conditions. 
The  satisfaction  of  his  physical  wants  is  necessary  per  se,  but 
should  at  the  same  time  be  availed  of  as  an  opportunity  for  the 
development  of  his  spiritual  part.  ...  At  present  what  may 
be  called  the  scientific  capital  of  industry,  like  the  money  capital, 
is  possessed  by  a  few.  In  a  great  chemical  plant,  for  instance, 
a  hundred  or  more  chemists  may  be  engaged  in  laboratory  re¬ 
search.  Thousands  of  workers  in  the  plant  are  left  destitute  of 
even  the  faintest  glimmering  of  the  mentality  that  impregnates 
the  processes  with  which  they  deal.  The  same  is  true  of  the 
machinery  which  the  operatives  tend.  Of  the  mind  that  is 
enshrined  in  these  machines  they  have  no  inkling,  and  still  less 
do  they  grasp  the  business  in  its  economic,  its  national,  and 

16  Copies  of  this  “Ethical  Programme  for  Business  Men”  can  be 
obtained  by  addressing  2  West  64th  Street,  New  York. 


160  EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


international  relations.  A  system  of  adult  education  along  broad 
lines  therefore  is  needed  ...  a  system  of  education  which  will 
make  the  worker  a  partner  in  the  science  of  the  business,  give 
him  at  least  an  elementary  grasp  of  the  mechanical  principles 
that  are  embodied  in  the  machinery,  and  afford  him  mental  con¬ 
tact  with  the  countries  and  the  peoples  from  which  the  raw 
material  handled  by  him  is  derived. 

The  highest  service  which  commerce  and  industry  can  render  is 
that  of  promoting  the  moral  development  of  the  persons  engaged 
in  them,  and  to  this  end  industrial  democracy  is  a  potent  in¬ 
strumentality.  Industrial  democracy,  indeed,  is  commonly 
advocated  on  other  lower  grounds,  for  instance,  as  a  means  of 
protecting  manual  workers  against  oppressive  action  by  em¬ 
ployers,  and  as  a  means  of  maintaining  better  standards  of  living, 
and  of  securing  a  voice  and  vote  in  all  matters  that  directly  affect 
the  workers.  But  in  this  list  the  chief  value  of  industrial 
representation  is  left  out.  This  consists  in  promoting  the  moral 
development  of  all  the  workers,  inclusive  of  the  lowest  as  well 
as  the  highest  functionaries.  By  progressive  development  of  a 
moral  being  is  meant  progressive  ability  to  follow  disinterested 
aims,  increasing  capacity  to  identify  oneself  with  the  interests 
of  the  larger  group  to  which  one  belongs,  such  an  expansion  of 
one’s  nature  as  enables  one  to  further  the  complex  and  diverse 
ends  of  the  society  of  which  one  is  a  member,  not  as  if  they 
were  one’s  own,  but  as  being  actually,  in  the  true  sense,  one’s 
own.  Now  industry,  when  arranged  on  the  functional  plan,  and 
it  should  be  so  arranged,  offers  the  golden  opportunity  of  moral 
expansion  to  all  who  are  in  it.  A  share  in  the  control  and 
government  of  industry  according  to  the  function  which  one 
fills  is  the  most  effective  education  in  ethics  conceivable.  Ideal 
government  is  not  government  with  the  mere  consent  of  the 
governed,  but  government  as  the  expression  of  a  deliberate  group 
reason  and  of  an  enlightened  group  will  to  which  each  one  con¬ 
tributes  in  his  degree. 

Ethical  study  of  the  vocations  will,  of  course,  try  to 
create  sound  thinking  on  the  problem  of  rewards.  Our 
present  method  is  to  leave  rewards  entirely  to  the  mercy  of 
chance.  The  average  person  says  that  a  man  is  entitled  to 
all  he  can  get  and  ignores  the  fact  that  back  of  the  superior 
ability  of  the  captain  of  industry  lies  the  work  of  the 


DEMAND  FOR  VOCATIONAL  FITNESS  161 


thousands  in  the  mills  and  of  the  thousands  who  have  gone 
before,  the  teachers,  the  men  of  science,  the  statesmen,  the 
untold  multitude  in  the  past  whose  labors  played  no  little 
part  in  making  the  modern  business  successes  possible. 
There  is  no  way  of  estimating  just  what  amount  consti¬ 
tutes  the  fair  reward  that  should  come  to  each  man.  One 
thing  is  certain :  all  who  serve  are  entitled  to  the  means 
that  enable  them  to  perform  still  better  service.^^  Why 
have  we  not  held  before  our  young  people  the  idea  that, 
after  all,  the  truest  reward  is  that  one  has  had  the  chance 
to  do  one’s  work? 

It  is  often  said  that  the  time  has  come  when  the  human  factor 
in  industry  must  receive  greater  consideration.  By  this  is 
generally  meant  that  the  wage-earner  ought  to  be  treated  as  a 
human  being,  and  not  as  a  mere  factor  in  the  production  of 
wealth.  But  the  same  applies  to  the  employer.  It  is  of  utmost 
importance  that  he,  too,  should  regard  himself,  not  merely  as  a 
factor  in  the  acquisition  of  wealth,  but  as  human  in  the  fullest 
sense  of  the  word.  Many  men  act  humanly  outside  of  business. 
Almost  all  business  men  are  even,  to  a  certain  extent,  idealists, 
namely,  in  their  relations  to  the  members  of  their  family,  in 
their  friendships,  in  their  philanthropies,  but,  strange  to  say, 
in  their  daily  business  they  consent  to  be  ranked  as  material¬ 
ists.  ... 

Nobody  to-day  is  so  near  the  brute  as  to  be  willing  to  acknowl¬ 
edge  that  he  subordinates  the  highest  purposes  of  life  to  the 
lowest  physical  satisfactions,  for  instance,  that  he  lives  in  order 
to  eat.  The  time  may  be  expected  to  come  when  those  who 
say  that  they  serve  in  order  to  make  money  will  be  subject  to  a 
similar  imputation,  different  in  degree  no  doubt,  but  not  in  kind, 
and  avarice  will  be  ranked  with  gluttony.^ 

The  best  reward  for  possessing  ability  is  the  chance  to 
use  that  ability  fruitfully.  The  best  type  of  worker  will 
be  thankful  that  he  has  the  opportunity  to  express  himself 

17  Something  other  of  course  than  “subsistence  wages”  or  “living 
wages”  or  the  “saving  wages”  now  advocated  by  some. 

18  “Ethical  Programme  for  Business  Men,”  dt. 


162 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


in  a  public  service  and  will  not  ask  for  an  additional  return 
in  the  shape  of  money  reward.  In  one  of  our  Western  cities 
there  was  a  manufacturer  who  was  indicted  for  grossly 
brutal  methods  of  ousting  his  competitors.  He  was  about 
to  be  brought  to  trial,  when  his  city  was  flooded  by  the 
overflowing  of  a  river.  In  the  work  of  saving  the  city,  this 
man  was  the  guiding  genius.  The  instance  is  symbolic. 
We  should  want  our  young  people  to  have  before  their 
minds  the  ideal  of  a  society  in  which  organizing  gifts  are 
directed  solely  to  the  pursuits  that  raise,  instead  of  lower, 
the  quality  of  human  relationships.  The  best  reward  for 
one^s  work  is  the  thought  that,  because  one  has  done  his 
work  well,  all  the  world  has  been  helped  to  do  its  work 
better. 

All  these  considerations  indicate  how  the  vocational 
preparation  can  be  quite  as  truly  cultural  as  the  old  studies 
of  the  gentleman.  Against  a  background  of  such  studies 
in  ethics,  history,  and  science,  the  student  is  better  pre¬ 
pared  to  understand  what  is  usually  taken  up  in  courses  of 
vocational  guidance,  namely,  the  qualities  needed  for  success 
and  the  ways  of  preparing  for  that  success.  Everything 
depends  upon  the  aim.  If  the  aim  is  simply  to  earn  a  good 
living,  then  undoubtedly  the  qualities  and  the  preparation 
needed  will  be  different  from'  those  required  where  the  aim 
kept  foremost  is  the  making  of  a  life  through  service.  Let 
us  not  be  afraid  that  considerations  of  this  kind  are  im¬ 
practical.  In  the  long  run  nothing  is  more  practical  than 
to  train  our  youth  early  in  life  to  reflect  upon  the  very 
highest  ideals  we  can  put  before  them.  If  we  fail  to  do 
this  when  they  are  young  and  their  minds  are  as  yet  un¬ 
spoiled  by  the  compromises  that  men  make  later  in  life, 
when  may  we  expect  them  to  get  the  better  ideas  for  lack 
of  which  our  world  is  suffering  now?  Experience  will 
teach  them  how  much  of  what  they  learn  in  their  earlier 


DEMAND  FOR  VOCATIONAL  FITNESS  163 


years  can  be  put  into  practice  at  any  given  moment.  But 
can  we  expect  with  the  same  confidence  that  their  experi¬ 
ence  in  the  world  outside  will  kindle  the  visions? 

Sailing  in  these  waters  is  by  no  means  smooth.  Among 
the  many  trials  by  which  it  is  beset,  there  is  the  single 
difficulty  that  a  scheme  like  this  requires  more  time  than 
most  boys  and  girls  at  present  are  able  to  afford.  But  the 
obstacle  is  not  final.  Even  after  we  have  eliminated  from 
our  curricula  what  is  no  longer  deserving  of  the  time  which 
it  consumes,  the  state  must  lengthen  the  period  of  compul¬ 
sory  schooling,  paternalistic  and  un-American  as  it  sounds 
to  some  to  say  so  now.  When  the  first  child-labor  law  was 
passed,  it  appeared  revolutionary  for  the  state  to  fix  at  all 
the  age  at  which  children  should  be  free  to  develop  as 
children  before  they  became  wage-earners.  Perhaps  some 
day  the  age  will  everywhere  be  sixteen  or  even  eighteen 
years.  Once  let  us  be  convinced  that  every  boy  and  girl 
is  entitled  to  the  preparation  which  makes  for  better  serv¬ 
ice,  and  that  time  is  needed  to  prevent  the  narrowness 
attendant  on  premature  specialization,  the  hindrances  will 
cease  to  look  like  finalities.  If  the  task  is  so  difficult,  this 
means  simply  that  we  cannot  leave  it  to  the  school  alone. 
Nicholas  Murray  Butler,  thinking  of  the  need  of  an  edu¬ 
cated  citizenship  to  preserve  our  free  institutions,  recently 
repeated  a  statement  which  he  had  made  in  1896:  ‘‘The 
difficulties  of  democracy  constitute  the  opportunities  of 
education.’’  Without  minimizing  the  truth  of  this  sound 
proposition,  may  we  submit  as  an  equally  essential  state¬ 
ment  of  present-day  needs  that  the  difficulties  of  education 
constitute  the  opportunities  of  democracy? 

Questions  and  Problems 

1.  Why  do  people  distinguish  trades  from  the  professions? 
What  are  the  difficulties  in  the  way  of  “professionalizing’^ 
the  trades  ? 


164  EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


2.  Consult  Annals  of  the  American  Academy  of  Political  and 
Social  Science,  ^‘The  Ethics  of  the  Professions  and  of 
Business,”  May,  1922,  for  light  on  ethical  standards  in  some 
one  occupation.  What  can  you  add? 

3.  Discuss  the  statement  that  there  must  always  be  people  who 
are  fitted  for  nothing  better  than  the  menial  occupations. 

4.  Sum  up  the  pros  and  cons  on  the  problem  of  the  labor  unions. 
What  problems  are  set  by  these  facts  for  modern  society? 

5.  How,  aside  from  the  introduction  of  machinery,  do  you 
account  for  the  passing  of  the  eraftsmanlike  attitude  of  the 
Middle  Ages?  Is  it  possible  to  restore  this  attitude  under 
modern  conditions? 

6.  In  the  recent  War,  the  soldiers  received  instruction  on  the 
aims  and  objects  of  the  war.  Is  there  any  suggestion  here 
for  the  problem  of  the  specialized  worker? 

7.  Show  how  agriculture  to-day  has  become  a  “cultural”  study. 

8.  Report  on  schools  established  by  working  people  (see  A.  H. 
Gleason,  Worker^  Education),  Study  also  the  views  of 
labor  unions  on  vocational  training  in  public  schools. 

9.  Is  the  problem  raised  in  this  chapter  likely  to  be  met  by 
requiring  all  freshmen  in  engineering  schools,  for  example, 
to  take  a  course  in  literature  or  history? 

References 

See,  besides  references  quoted  in  text: 

Adler,  Felix,  The  World  Crisis  and  Its  Meaning,  Ch.  VI,  Vil; 
An  Ethical  Philosophy  of  Life,  Book  IV,  Ch.  III-VI. 

‘Agriculture  in  Secondary  Schools”  (Government  Printing 
Office). 

Betts,  G.  H.,  New  Ideals  in  Rural  Schools. 

Bloomfield,  Meyer,  The  Vocational  Guidance  of  Youth, 

Brandeis,  Louis,  Business  a  Profession. 

Briggs,  T.  H.,  The  Junior  High  School,  Ch.  X. 

Brooks,  J.  G.,  Labor’s  Challenge  to  the  Social  Order. 

“Business  Education  in  Secondary  Schools”  (Government  Print¬ 
ing  Office). 

Carlton,  F.  T.,  Education  and  Industrial  Evolution, 

Carlyle,  Thomas,  Past  and  Present. 

Davis,  J.  B.,  Vocational  and  Moral  Guidance. 

Foght,  H.  W.,  The  American  Rural  Schools. 

Hart,  J.  K.,  “Why  Men  Work,”  Survey,  Feb.  1, 1923. 


DEMAND  FOR  VOCATIONAL  FITNESS  165 


Habt,  J.  K.,  Educational  Resources  of  Villages  and  Rural  Com¬ 
munities. 

Henderson,  E.  N.,  Principles  of  Education,  Ch.  XVIII. 
Mecklin,  J.  M.,  Introduction  to  Social  Ethics,  Ch.  XVII-XX. 
Rathenau,  Walter,  The  New  Society. 

Ruskin,  John,  Crown  of  Wild  Olive;  Unto  This  Last, 

Snedden,  David,  Vocational  Education. 

Tannenbaum,  Frank,  The  Labor  Movement. 

Tawney,  R.  H.,  The  Acquisitive  Society. 

^Vocational  Guidance  in  Secondary  Education”  (Government 
Printing  Office). 

Webb,  Beatrice  and  Sidney,  The  Decay  of  Capitalist  Civilization, 
Withers,  Hartley,  The  Case  for  Capitalism, 


CHAPTER  X 


THE  PRAGMATIST  CRITICISM 

Anyone  above  the  age  of  thirty  who  visits  a  progressive 
school  to-day  cannot  help  being  struck  with  marked  dif¬ 
ferences  from  the  things  familiar  to  his  own  boyhood.  It 
is  not  so  much  that  the  buildings  are  larger,  more  airy,  and 
more  beautiful.  Nor  is  it  that  the  teachers  and  pupils  are 
so  unlike  what  they  were  a  generation  ago.  The  change  is 
in  the  school  atmosphere.  The  place  is  more  like  a  home 
in  a  certain  air  of  freedom.  Everybody  seems  to  be  moving 
about  a  good  deal  more  than  teachers  and  pupils  did  for¬ 
merly.  There  is  much  less  sitting  still  at  desks.  Indeed, 
in  many  rooms,  there  are  no  longer  any  desks  at  all.  A 
considerably  diminished  portion  of  the  day  is  given  to  re¬ 
citing  lessons.  More  time  is  spent  in  apparently  informal 
conversation  between  pupils  and  teacher  or  among  one 
another.  The  children  are  sewing,  weaving,  cooking,  work¬ 
ing  with  wood,  iron,  clay,  leather,  or  cultivating  gardens, 
running  stores,  debating,  acting  plays.  Here  again  is  an 
important  offering  whose  ethical  value  needs  to  be  ex¬ 
amined. 

Behind  this  transformed  life  of  the  school  lies  the  work 
of  a  band  of  pioneers  inspired  in  part  by  Proebel  and  moved 
to  extend  beyond  the  kindergarten  the  principles  found  so 
useful  there.  In  more  recent  years,  the  chief  inspiration 
has  come  from  the  more  distinctively  American  teachings 

of  a  group  among  whom  Prof.  John  Dnwey  is  leader. 

166 


THE  PRAGMATIST  CRITICISM 


167 


Their  philosophy,  popularized  by  William  James  under  the 
name  Pragmatism,  regards  people  as  essentially  doers, 
rather  than  knowers  or  thinkers.  It  considers  intellect  as 
only  the  instrument  employed  by  the  will  to  get  what  the 
will  desires.  It  denies  the  existence  of  ultimate  truths  which 
cannot  be  verified  in  human  experience.  Truth  is  that 
which  is  found  to  work  in  practice.  This  is  a  philosophy 
that  accords  neatly  with  the  spirit  of  an  age  as  energetic  as 
our  own,  and  as  successful  in  the  attempt  to  harness  natural 
forces  to  the  ear  of  human  wants.  Man  has  been  learning 
at  an  unprecedented  rate  how  to  use  the  powers  of  Nature. 
In  the  process,  he  has  opened  up  wide  areas  of  new  science 
and  found  a  convincing  method  of  testing  truth — ^by  “try¬ 
ing  out’^  his  theories  in  practice.  “Ideas  (which  them¬ 
selves  are  but  parts  of  our  experiences)  become  truth  just 
in  so  far  as  they  help  us  to  get  into  satisfactory  relation 
with  other  parts  of  our  experience,’’  says  James.^  Hence 
the  name  Instrumentalism,  also  used  for  this  philosophy, 
to  indicate  that  knowledge  is  both  a  product  of  man’s 
attempts  to  control  his  environment  and  a  means  to  more 
effective  control. 

On  its  educational  side.  Pragmatism  comes  forward  to 
attack  and  to  rebuild.  It  accuses  the  traditional  schooling 
of  forgetting  that  knowledge  is  practical  both  in  origins 
and  purposes  and  of  making  it  an  end  in  itself.  It  reminds 
us  that  there  would  be,  for  example,  no  textbooks  in  history 
to-day  if  the  men  whose  deeds  are  there  recorded  had  been 
merely  academic  students  and  not  doers.  History,  there¬ 
fore,  is  to  be  treated  as  a  practical  study.  It  should  be  a 
means  whereby  the  understanding  of  the  past  contributes 
to  better  experiences  for  to-day.  “To  isolate  the  past,” 
says  Professor  Dewey “dwelling  upon  it  for  its  own  sake 


1  William  James,  Pragmatism,  p.  58. 

2  John  Dewey,  Creative  Intelligence,  p.  14. 


168 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


and  giving  it  the  eulogistic  name  of  knowledge,  is  to  sub¬ 
stitute  the  reminiscences  of  old  age  for  effective  intelli¬ 
gence.  ’  ’ 

Such  isolation  of  the  school  from  the  activities  of  the 
life  around  it  is  for  Pragmatism  the  cardinal  sin.  These 
activities  should  set  the  general  aim  for  the  school,  that  is, 
the  school  is  to  see  that  they  are  performed  more  efficiently ; 
and  they  point  the  way  to  the  best  educational  material 
on  w’hich  the  child  can  be  busied.  Learning  must  consist 
chiefly  of  occupations  reproducing  the  activities  by  which 
society  keeps  itself  going.  It  must  be  incidental  to  doing 
things. 

In  former  days  children  got  this  educational  opportunity 
from  the  occupations  of  their  home  life.  They  were  obliged 
to  take  part  in  the  work  of  the  household,  and,  as  a  result, 
they  learned  much  w^hich  the  child  of  to-day  does  not  learn. 
Every  member  of  the  home  had  tasks  to  perform  that  both 
trained  him  in  habits  of  order,  industry,  responsibility, 
teamwork,  and  gave  him  first-hand  contact  ‘‘with  real 
things  and  materials,  with  the  actual  processes  of  their 
manipulation  and  the  knowledge  of  their  social  necessities 
and  uses.  ’  ’  ®  These  days  have  disappeared.  More  children 
now  dwell  in  towns,  in  a  world  of  convenient  electric  push¬ 
buttons,  janitors,  and  easily  accessible  stores.  The  child 
is  not  required  to  make  the  things  needed  by  his  home,  nor 
does  he  see  his  parent  make  them.  Hence  the  danger  of 
bringing  up  a  race  cut  off  from  an  understanding  of  those 
practical  utilities  on  which  its  daily  life  depends.  Hence 
also  the  more  important  danger  of  the  child  ^s  ceasing  to 
learn  in  the  only  genuine  way — ^by  experience — the  meaning 
of  industry,  cooperation,  and  other  essentials.  Professor 
Dewey  warns  us  advisedly  against  a  morality  nourished 
on  book  precepts  but  without  roots  in  habit  generated  by 

I  ■—«■■■■  I  I  I  i— ————I— —————— —i—— 

8  John  Dewey,  School  and  Society,  p.  24. 


THE  PRAGMATIST  CRITICISM 


169 


living  experience.  Adequate  preparation  for  a  real  life 
cannot  be  obtained  from  the  habits  acquired  by  application 
to  books.  Vital  learning  is  won  only  by  practice. 

These  are  truths  of  capital  importance  for  ethical  train¬ 
ing.  It  is  one  thing  to  know  about  the  better  modes  of  life 
by  hearsay  and  quite  another  to  know  them  from  one ’s  own 
experience.  Words  like  justice,  responsibility,  group  spirit, 
remain  idle  verbalisms  until  the  child  has  performed  just 
acts  of  its  own,  held  itself  responsible  for  specific  and  self- 
chosen  obligations,  and  cooperated  willingly.  The  best 
preparation  for  citizenship  is  never  the  formal  lesson  in 
civics  but  continued  practice  in  democratic  conduct.  Here 
especially  the  Pragmatic  criticism  has  done  notable  service. 
The  old-fashioned  school  gave  little  chance  to  practice  such 
needs  of  a  democracy  as  initiative  and  teamwork.  The  vir¬ 
tues  it  encouraged  were  individualistic,  that  is,  “get  a  good 
mark,  ’  ^  “  beat  the  other  fellow,  ’  ^  and  negative,  that  is,  ‘  *  do 
not  break  the  school  rules.”  Character,  even  in  childhood, 
should  certainly  be  more  than  winning  the  teachers’  ap¬ 
proval  for  proficiency  in  recitations.  Success  in  this  pur¬ 
suit  may  easily  be  accomplished  by  the  fostering  of  traits 
either  useless  to  a  democratic  society  or  harmful.  The 
policy  of  “everyone  for  himself”  is  one  such  undesirable 
procedure.  Unthinking  obedience  and  unquestioning  de¬ 
pendence  upon  the  teacher’s  say-so  for  information  is 
another. 

In  contrast  with  these  attitudes  are  the  practices  required 
by  a  forward-looking  democracy.  The  central  relation  of 
the  school  is  no  longer  to  be  that  of  child  to  teacher  or 
child  to  book.  Instead,  it  is  to  be  the  eminently  more  fruit¬ 
ful  relation  of  child  to  child  and  of  child  to  community. 
The  teacher,  under  the  new  doctrine,  is  not  to  be  the  su¬ 
preme  authority  but  the  introducer  to  the  true  educator, 
the  child’s  own  activities.  In  this  way,  democracy  will 
be  furthered  by  children  trained’  to  become  not  passive 


170 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


recipients  but  ‘^robust  trustees  of  its  resources  and 
ideals.  ’  ’  * 

Further  special  gain  will  come  in  children’s  bringing  to 
such  schooling  a  whole-hearted  attention.  Where  this  is 
absent,  they  are  trained  to  more  or  less  conscious  habits 
of  deceit.  They  pretend  to  be  following  the  teacher  while  in 
the  back  of  their  minds  they  are  engaged  in  pursuits  more 
absorbing.  These  favorite  interests  are  not  to  be  deemed, 
as  in  former  days,  the  marks  of  depravity.  On  the  contrary, 
they  are  the  raw  materials  which  skilful  teachers  will  lead 
the  child  to  work  up  into  lasting  values.  And  in  the  long 
run  no  training  of  will  endures  unless  it  is  self-imposed. 
The  best  way  to  obtain  the  cooperation  of  the  child  in  his 
own  character-building  is  to  have  him  give  himself  to  tasks 
— real  tasks,  not  play — which  interest  him  enough  to  call 
forth  undivided  and  prolonged  effort.  The  alternative  is 
to  use  either  coercion  or  bribery  and  then  to  see  the 
child ’s  will  collapse  as  soon  as  these  extraneous  devices  are 
removed. 

Such  have  been  the  educational  services  of  the  Prag¬ 
matist  philosophy.  Their  work  is  by  no  means  ended. 
Thousands  of  schoolhouses,  unawakened  to  the  new  democ¬ 
racy  or  the  new  psychology,  still  put  children  through  the 
old  lifeless  routine.  Would  it  not,  therefore,  be  the  better 
part  for  all  to  join  whole-heartedly  in  the  quickening  efforts 
begun  by  the  Pragmatists  ?  But,  valuable  as  their  offerings 
are,  it  must  still  be  said  in  all  friendliness  that  their  educa¬ 
tional  philosophy  is  open  to  serious  criticism  and  precisely 
at  those  points  that  are  usually  regarded  as  its  greatest 
ethical  contribution. 

Its  definition  of  aims  is  inadequate.  The  essence  of 
education,  we  are  told,  is  “vital  energy  seeking  oppor- 


4  Dewey,  Democracy  and  Education,  p.  12. 


THE  PRAGMATIST  CRITICISM 


171 


tuuity  for  effective  exercise.  ^  ^  ®  This  conception,  as  opposed 
to  the  traditional  emphasis  upon  intellect,  calls  attention 
to  an  important  fact  of  psychology  ignored  by  the  older 
philosophies.  But,  in  turn,  it  too  is  one-sided.  Why  select 
the  impulses  to  activity  as  the  point  of  chief  importance 
for  educational  aims?  Could  not  any  rampant  egotist 
justify  his  will  to  power  on  the  ground  that  his  impulses 
were  ‘Wital”  and  desirous  of  “effective  exercise’’? 

Professor  Dewey  guards  against  encouraging  anarchic 
individualism  by  repeatedly  saying  that  his  conception  is 
social.  But  what  does  “social”  mean?  “Not  only  is  social 
life  identical  with  communication  hut  all  communication 
(and  hence  all  social  life)  is  educative. .  . .  The  very  process 
of  living  together  educates.  It  enlarges  and  enlightens 
experience ;  it  stimulates  and  enriches  imagination ;  it  cre¬ 
ates  responsibility  for  accuracy  and  vividness  of  statement 
and  thought.  ’  ’  ®  Undoubtedly  there  is  no  genuine  educa¬ 
tion  without  living  together.  But  as  long  as  we  are  defin¬ 
ing  aims  at  all,  we  must  ask,  “What  is  the  best  education 
such  life  can  give  ?  ’  ’  Experience  can  be  enlarged,  enlight¬ 
ened,  etc.,  without  necessarily  shaping  the  worthiest  types 
of  character.  For  instance,  a  novelist  or  reporter  in  search 
of  material  for  a  story  might,  under  this  formula,  ‘  ‘  enlarge 
and  enlighten  his  experience  ’  ’  by  an  association  with  other  • 
people  which  simply  used  them  for  his  own  ends.  It  is 
quite  possible  to  exploit  the  lives  of  other  people  in  order 
to  gratify  selfish  aesthetic  cravings.  Goethe  did  so.  But 
the  enlarged  experience  which  thus  results  is  very  different 
from  the  experience  to  be  cultivated  by  an  ethical  training, 
namely,  a  deepened  sense  of  ethical  relation.'^  In  the  latter 
case,  our  contacts  with  other  lives  raise  up  in  us  the  sense 
of  absolute  worth  in  those  lives.  The  more  we  try  to  do 

6  Hid.,  p.  84. 

6  Ihid.y  pp.  6,  7. 

7  Recall  Chapter  IV,  “The  Spiritual  Ideal.” 


172 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


deference  to  that  worth,  the  more  we  become  aware  of  some¬ 
thing  too  sacred  to  be  used  only  for  our  own  gratification. 
And  this  quickened  understanding  of  'the  best  there  is  in 
other  people  calls  out  in  us  a  freshened  sense  of  our  own 
truest  nature,  because  we  are  made  aware  of  our  kinship 
with  them  in  this  highest,  or  spiritual,  order  of  being.  To 
bring  home  this  important  meaning  we  need  ideals  that 
are  not  covered  'by  such  inadequate  terms  as  ‘‘enlarged 
social  sense. 

Professor  Dewey  says  that  a  man  must  “so  live  as  a  social 
member  that  what  he  gets  from  living  with  others  balances 
what  he  contributes”  ...  in  the  form  of  a  “widening  and 
deepening  of  conscious  life,”  “a  more  intense,  disciplined, 
and  expanding  realization  of  meanings.”®  Yes  indeed; 
but  precisely  in  what  direction  is  such  increase  best?  The 
road  is  perhaps  left  open  to  the  implication  that  the  best 
outcome  of  attempts  to  live  aright  with  one’s  fellows  is  a 
deeper  and  broader  insight  into  the  meaning  of  perfect, 
ethical  relationships.  This,  however,  is  by  no  means  de¬ 
clared.  There  is  a  difference,  we  repeat,  between  enlarged 
consciousness  and  increased  consciousness  of  spiritual  link¬ 
age.  The  best  kind  of  consciousness  is  that  which  accom¬ 
panies  the  effort  to  call  out  in  people  a  realization  of  their 
spiritual  nature. 

It  is  hard  to  see  how  a  philosophy  of  ethical  education 
can  dispense  with  the  idea  of  our  connection  with  one 
another  in  some  such  ties  of  absolute  obligation.  But  Prag¬ 
matism  will  have  nothing  to  do  with  a  perfect  order  of  being 
and  with  the  unconditioned  obligations  of  this  spiritual 
kinship.  Its  interest  is  less  ethical  in  the  strict  sense  than 
social  and  psychologic.  A  social  philosophy  is  more  occu¬ 
pied  with  the  fact  that  people  live  together  and  with  meth¬ 
ods  of  bringing  them  to  more  harmonious  life  than  in  seek- 


«  Dewey,  Democracy  and  Education,  p.  417, 


I 


THE  PRAGMATIST  CRITICISM 


173 


ing  out  the  highest  of  patterns,  the  best  ways  in  which 
people  ought  to  live  together.  It  is  apt  to  fix  its  eye  more 
upon  the  fact  of  togetherness  than  upon  the  ultimate  goals 
which  social  beings  must  seek  in  order  to  become  ethical 
beings.  Note  in  the  following  passages  how  interest  is 
centered  on  the  perception  of  mere  interrelation :  ®  ‘‘Travel, 
economic  tendencies,  have  at  present  gone  far  ...  to  bring 
peoples  and  classes  into  closer  and  more  perceptible  con¬ 
nection  with  one  another.  It  remains  for  the  most  part  to 
secure  the  intellectual  and  emotional  significance  of  this 
physical  annihilation  of  space.  The  ideal  society  is 
declared  to  be  one  “in  which  every  person  shall  be  occu¬ 
pied  in  something  which  makes  the  lives  of  others  better 
worth  living,  and  which  accordingly  makes  the  ties  which 
bind  closely  together  more  perceptible,  which  breaks  down 
the  barriers  of  distance  between  them.  ’  ^  An  essentially 
ethical  aim,  however,  would  insist,  not  only  on  the  percep¬ 
tion  of  the  ties  which  do  indeed  bind  persons,  but  especially 
upon  the  ties  which  ought  to  bind  them.  It  would  want  the 
ties  to  be,  not  merely  more  perceptible,  but  full  of  nobler 
understanding,  bonds  in  which  each  recognizes  his  kinship 
with  all  others  in  a  society  of  beings  at  their  ideal  best. 
Moral  growth  is  a  matter  of  deepened  insight  into  the  real¬ 
ity  and  the  nature  of  such  perfect  associations. 

This  insistence  upon  the  need  for  a  sense  of  the  highest 
best  is  not  so  captious  as  it  may  seem.  How  can  there  be 
any  “betterment’^  without  unremitting  effort  to  reach  the 
clearest  understanding  of  the  best  ?  Note  in  the  following 
paragraph  how  these  ultimate  standards  are  declared  unnec- 

^  Ibid.,  p.  100  (italics  ours). 

10  “The  facts  that  fill  the  imagination  of  pragmatists  are  psychical 
facts:  where  others  think  of  the  starry  heaven,  pragmatists  think 
of  the  perception  of  the  starry  heavens;  where  others  think  of  God, 
pragmatists  think  of  the  belief  in  God  and  so  on.”  Bertrand  Russell, 
Philosophical  Essays,  p.  100. 

Dewey,  Democracy  and  Education,  p.  369. 


174 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


essary  but  nevertheless  are  implied  in  the  phrases  which 
we  have  italicized.  What  is  the  test  by  which  “desirable^* 
traits,  etc.  are  judged  deserving  of  the  name! 

We  cannot  set  up  out  of  our  heads  something  we  regard  as  an 
ideal  society.  We  must  base  our  conception  upon  societies  which 
actually  exist  in  order  to  have  any  assurance  that  our  ideal  is  a 
practicable  one.  But  the  ideal  cannot  simply  repeat  the  traits 
which  are  actually  found.  The  problem  is  to  extract  the 
desirable  traits  of  form  of  community  life  which  actually  exist 
and  employ  them  to  criticize  undesirable  features  and  suggest 
improvement.  Now  in  any  social  group  whatever,  even  in  a 
gang  of  thieves,  we  find  some  interest  held  in  common,  and  .  .  . 
a  certain  amount  of  interaction  and  cooperative  intercourse  with 
other  groups.  From  these  two  traits  we  derive  our  standard. 
How  numerous  and  how  varied  are  the  interests  which  are  con¬ 
sciously  shared?  How  full  and  free  is  the  interplay  with  other 
forms  of  association.^ 2  perfection  as  a  final  goal  but  the 

ever  enduring  process  of  perfecting,  maturing,  refining,  is  the 
aim  in  living.  .  .  .  Growth  itself  is  the  only  moral  end !  ” 

All  this  is  assuredly  useful  as  compared  with  the  aristo¬ 
cratic  and  retrospective  educational  philosophies,  but  in 
his  anxiety  that  social  aims  be  not  too  far  above  our  heads. 
Professor  Dewey  is  obliged  to  ignore  the  fact  that  even 
into  his  empirical  construction,  ideal,  transcendental  no¬ 
tions  are  introduced.  The  interplay  of  association  can 
never  be  ‘‘full  and  free’’  in  any  actual  groups.  In  the 
world  of  experience,  we  may  try  to  make  our  associations 
right,  but  we  are  ignorant  of  one  another ’s  real  needs ;  we 
get  in  one  another’s  way;  consciously  or  otherwise  we 
exploit  one  another;  our  best  efforts  to  do  justice  often 
bring  increased  trouble  instead  of  the  benefit  we  intended. 
Freedom  and  fullness,  that  is,  are  ideal  conceptions  in  the 
truest  sense.  Professor  Dewey  will  have  no  traffic  with 
such  ultimates,  and  yet  they  creep  into  his  own  standards. 


12  Ibid.,  p.  96. 

18  Dewey,  Reconstruction  in  Philosophy,  p.  177. 


THE  PRAGMATIST  CRITICISM 


175 


How  can  there  be  a  ^‘process  of  perfecting^’  without  the 
‘  *  perfection  ’  ’  rejected  as  final  goal  ?  Would  it  not  be  better 
to  avow  the  transcendence,  to  say  that  there  is  a  perfect 
association  beyond  the  best  encountered  in  experience  and 
that  education  is  to  be  a  process  of  so  living  together  that 
the  sense  of  this  ideal  best  becomes  more  and  more  a 
transforming  power! 

Pragmatist  principles  have  a  way  of  coming  close  to 
such  essentially  ethical  conclusions  and  then  shying  off  at 
the  points  where  the  spiritual  connotations  need  explicit 
stress.  Chapter  VII  in  Democracy  and  Education,  for 
example,  pleads  for  a  society  in  which  the  gifts  of  all  the 
members  shall  enjoy  creative  interplay.  It  wants  to  see 
isolation,  rigidity,  ‘‘static  and  selfish  ideals  within  the 
group”  give  way  to  progress  through  wider  relations, 
through  “full  interaction  with  other  groups.”^*  But  one 
cannot  help  wishing  here  that  it  were  recognized  how  far 
beyond  the  power  of  men  to  achieve  is  such  interplay  at 
its  highest.  An  essential  sublimity  is  taken  from  moral 
aspiration  when  all  effort  is  fixed  on  reaching  the  next  prac¬ 
ticable  step.  There  is  need  of  a  sense  of  ultimate  goals 
which,  though  “ideal,”  are  nevertheless  objective  and  com¬ 
manding.  The  life  which  is  “better  worth  living”  recog¬ 
nizes  that  absolute  perfection  for  human  societies  is  indeed 
beyond  men’s  reach,  and  it  is  all  the  more  earnest  because 
of  that  fact.  Spiritual  growth  consists  in  so  touching  other 
lives  that  these  two  results  follow:  all  who  are  affected 
attain  to  a  deepened  insight  into  the  reality  and  the  nature 
of  perfect  life,  and  this,  in  turn,  becomes  a  fresh  incentive 
to  the  conduct  which  brings  still  further  insight.  The  goal 
is  made  clearer  by  every  genuine  effort  to  move  toward  it. 

Professor  Dewey ’s  educational  philosophy  wiU  not  reckon 
with  such  ethical  ultimates.  It  is  too  interested  in  facts 


1*  Dewey,  Democracy  and  Education,  p.  99. 


176 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


of  practical  psychology.  This  psychologic  preoccupation 
is  stamped  all  over  the  educational  prescriptions.  It  is 
well,  let  it  be  repeated,  that  teachers  remember  how  little 
effective  an  ideal  of  life  is  when  it  is  left  unconnected  with 
our  native  urges.  It  is  good  to  be  told,  in  opposition  to  the 
older  pedagogics,  that  the  mind  is  neither  a  blank  paper 
on  which  adults  can  write  anything  they  choose,  nor  a 
series  of  more  or  less  mechanical  apperceptive  masses.  But 
in  the  eagerness  to  see  that  ideals  work  out  into  practice. 
Pragmatists  fall  into  the  error  of  singling  out  this  fact  of 
acceptability  and  making  it  the  chief  fact  about  life ’s  aims. 
Although  Professor  Dewey  insists  that  children’s  desires 
are  in  no  wise  final  and  must  be  worked  over  into  results 
which  are  socially  useful,  in  the  end  socially  useful” 
comes  to  mean  productive  of  happiness,  ‘‘freer  and  fuller  of 
interest,”  “more  abounding  in  experience,”  always,  that 
is,  good  ultimately  because  it  satisfies  desire  or  affords  an 
outlet  for  “vital  energies”  or  “increases  the  experienced 
content  of  life  itself.”^®  A  single  instance  of  the  mischief 
wrought  by  this  central  concern  for  joy  in  activity  is  the 
conduct  of  many  a  college  lad  who  gives  to  athletics  an. 
undue  share  of  “vital  energies  seeking  effective  exercise.” 
The  bookworm,  led  by  his  interest  in  books  to  shirk  the 
obligations  of  class-spirit,  is  likewise  a  victim  of  unor¬ 
ganized  desires.  An  ethical  ideal  of  education  would 
encourage  the  interest  in  both  athletics  and  books,  but  it 
would  keep  these  affections  in  their  proper  place  by  remem¬ 
bering  the  main  objective:  the  lad  has  a  work  in  life  to 
perform  which  his  college  pursuits  will  help  him  to  do 
better. 

At  every  point  we  meet  this  need  of  a  highest  principle 
around  which  desires  ought  to  be  organized.  This  leading 
motive  in  Professor  Dewey’s  philosophy  is  “growth”  but 


15  Ihid.,  p.  285. 


THE  PRAGMATIST  CRITICISM 


177 


always,  at  bottom,  growth  in  happiness.  Not  that  he  iden¬ 
tifies  happiness  with  selfish  delight ;  but  the  growth  that 
most  deserves  to  set  the  aims  for  man’s  life  needs  a  direc¬ 
tion  which  “happiness”  is  unfitted  to  suggest.  The  trouble 
with  the  word  is  that  it  diverts  attention  from  the  point 
of  first  importance.  Happiness  is  at  best  only  a  by-product. 
Sometimes  it  may  come  as  the  reward  of  right  behaviors, 
sometimes  not.  To  think  of  it  as  a  leading  object  is  too 
much  as  if  a  physician  should  keep  foremost  in  his  mind 
the  thought  of  his  fee  rather  than  of  his  patient’s  need. 

Besides,  the  sense  of  performing  a  duty  is  sometimes  so 
interfused  with  pain  that  it  can  hardly  be  characterized 
by  a  word  with  such  connotations  as  happiness.  Lincoln’s 
days  and  sleepless  nights  in  the  White  House  could  scarcely 
be  called  happy.  And  the  more  thoughtful  any  reformer 
is,  the  more  he  realizes  that  happiness  as  his  aim  even  for 
other  people  cannot  set  the  highest  of  ends.  He  knows 
that,  howsoever  he  does  his  utmost,  there  are  worlds  upon 
worlds  of  better  things  still  needing  to  be  done.  In  many 
a  life  the  disappearance  of  poverty,  for  example,  opens  the 
door  to  new  wants  unnoticed  before.  Happiness  is  but  a 
passing  state  of  consciousness  that  our  desires  are  succeed¬ 
ing.  It  is  a  feeling  accompanying  successful  energizing.^® 
If  a  machine  could  feel  and  speak,  as  the  parts  of  the 
steamer  did  in  The  Ship  That  Found  Itself,  it  would  say 
that  its  happiness  consisted  in  doing  its  work  well.  Organ¬ 
isms  are  happy  to  the  extent  that  they  perform  their  func¬ 
tions.  Of  human  beings  it  may  be  said  that,  even  though 
happiness  is  not  the  same  as  pleasure  in  the  cruder  sense, 
they  are  happy  when  the  things  they  want  to  do  are  going 
well. 

Therefore,  in  defining  ends  for  human  conduct,  we  do 

16  “Happiness  consists  in  the  agreement,  whether  anticipated  or 
realized,  of  the  objective  conditions  brought  about  by  our  endeavors, 
with  our  desires  and  purposes.”  Dewey  and  Tufts,  Ethics,  p.  281. 


178  EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


something  less  than  justice  to  man’s  highest  capacities  if 
we  single  out  this  by-product  of  feeling.  Attention  should 
rather  go  not  to  the  incidental,  and  often  absent,  reward 
but  to  the  performance  of  the  function  itself.  Giordano 
Bruno,  no  doubt,  would  have  been  happy  if,  instead  of  going 
to  the  stake,  he  had  succeeded  in  persuading  men  to  the 
truth  he  was  trying  to  teach.  But  it  was  not  the  likelihood 
of  such  happiness  that  dignified  his  endeavors.  It  was 
Bruno’s  sense  of  objective  tasks  which  it  was  right  to 
attempt. 

Everything  depends  on  what  we  are  taught — ^by  practice, 
example,  suggestion,  precept — every  means — to  regard  as 
the  best  among  human  functions.  Spiritual  growth  is  some¬ 
thing  other  than  growth  as  such ;  creative  consciousness  of 
the  perfect  life  is  better  than  enlarged  consciousness  in 
general.  Doing  tasks  that  are  morally  necessary  is  not  the 
same  thing  as  giving  outlet  to  desire,  even  to  altruistic 
desire.  ‘‘Moral  experience  .  .  .  may  be  described  as  a  series 
of  subjections  to  imperious  impulses  which  urge  our  finite 
natures  toward  infinite  issues ;  a  sense  of  propulsions  which 
we  can  resist  but  may  not  disown;  a  sense  of  a  power 
greater  than  ourselves,  with  which,  nevertheless,  in  essence 
we  are  one,  ...  a  sense  of  the  complicity  of  our  life  with 
the  life  of  others,  of  living  in  them  in  no  merely  meta¬ 
phorical  signification,  ...  of  unity  with  all  spiritual  being 

whatsoever.  ’  ’ 

1 

Pragmatist  educational  writings  do  not  recognize  these 
facts.  Accordingly  they  fall  short  when  it  comes  to  formu¬ 
lating  principles  of  choice  among  the  many  claimants  to 
attention.  Indeed  the  conception  of  higher  and  lower 
among  values  is  ruled  out  in  such  statements  as  this : 

We  cannot  establish  a  hierarchy  of  values  among  studies.  In 
so  far  as  any  study  has  a  unique  and  irreplaceable  function  in 


Adler,  Life  and  Destiny,  p.  26. 

1*  Dewey,  Democracy  and  Education,  p.  81. 


THE  PRAGMATIST  CRITICISM 


179 


experience,  in  so  far  as  it  marks  a  characteristic  enrichment  of 
life,  its  worth  is  intrinsic  or  incomparable.  Since  education  is 
not  a  means  to  living,  but  is  identical  with  living  a  life  which  is 
fruitful  and  inherently  significant,  the  only  ultimate  value  which 
can  be  set  up  is  just  the  process  of  living  itself.  And  this  is 
not  the  end  to  which  studies  and  activities  are  subordinate  means ; 
it  is  the  whole  of  which  they  are  ingredients. 

The  reason  for  making  thus  inclusive  ‘Hhe  process  of 
living  itself”  is  that  Pragmatism  is  subjective  to  the  core. 
If  anything  is  given  first  place,  it  is  desire.  Hence  the  great 
and  at  times  excessive  stress  upon  following  the  child’s 
instincts.  Not  that  the  child’s  impulses  are  to  run  wild. 
They  must  indeed  be  guided.  But  this  thought  never  takes 
any  but  second  place.  First  place  is  given  to  the  injunc¬ 
tion  to  follow  the  tug  of  the  natural  leadings. 

See  what  this  requires  in  practice : 

The  period  of  elementary  education  evidently  requires  that 
the  child  shall  be  taken  up  mainly  with  direct,  outgoing,  and 
positive  activity,  in  which  his  impulses  find  fulfilment  and  are, 
thereby  brought  to  conscious  value.  In  the  .  .  .  time  of  second¬ 
ary  education  there  is  basis  for  reflection,  for  conscious  formu¬ 
lation  and  generalization  .  .  .  which  defines  and  relates  the  ele¬ 
ments  ...  of  experience. 

Is  this  not  rather  long  to  wait  ?  Must  we  wait  until  the 
secondary  school  before  looking  on  the  child  as  little  more 
than  a  bundle  of  impulses?  Professor  Dewey  is  so  fearful 
that  the  ends  set  up  by  adults  may  not  be  acceptable  to  the 
child  that  he  overemphasizes  the  importance  of  this  one 
concern :  ‘  ‘  To-day ’s  experiences  are  to  be  significant  to  the 
child.  He  is  to  live  in  the  present.”  Granted.  But  will 
not  even  the  experiences  of  the  child  to-day  be  more  ethic¬ 
ally  significant  the  sooner  we  can  get  him  to  cooperate 
consciously  in  high  aims  for  his  life?  The  distinction  be- 


10  Dewey,  Interest  as  Related  to  Will,  p.  31, 


180 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


tween  desires  and  responsibilities,  interests  and  obligations, 
assuredly  does  not  always  appeal  to  young  minds,  or  to  old 
ones.  But  is  this  piece  of  psychology  the  truth  of  chief 
importance  ? 

On  the  choice  of  vocation.  Professor  Dewey  says:  ‘‘To 
find  out  what  one  is  fitted  to  do  and  to  secure  an  oppor¬ 
tunity  to  do  it  is  the  key  to  happiness.  ’  ’  Again  the  accent 
on  happiness.  It  is  true  that  in  the  long  run  a  man  will 
do  better  service  if  he  is  fitted  for  his  lifework  and  is 
therefore  more  likely  to  be  happy  in  it.  But  a  spiritual 
approach  to  the  problem  of  a  career  would  try  to  keep  fore¬ 
most  the  thought  of  the  service  needed.  It  would  ask, 
“What  kinds  of  work  need  to  be  done?^^,  and  then  would 
come  the  question,  “Which  of  these  services  am  I  able  to 
render?’^  It  makes  a  difference  which  of  these  lines  of 
approach  is  taken.  The  world  has  voices  enough  urging 
the  young  to  seek  happiness.  It  needs  the  tonic  influence 
of  putting  first  the  thought  of  duty. 

To  keep  in  the  foreground  the  fact  that  there  is  such  a 
reality  as  a  moral  universe,  sometimes  coincident  with  a 
world  of  desires  and  sometimes  not,  does  not  have  to  lead 
us,  as  Professor  Dewey  fears,  to  subscribe  to  the  ideals  of 
the  Prussian  drill-master.  The  reality  of  absolutes  is  not 
at  all  disproved  by  the  egregious  conceit  of  some  Germans 
in  identifying  the  absolute  with  the  will  of  the  Prussian 
state.  Subjectivism  is  every  whit  as  likely  to  lead  to  grave 
abuses.  As  Bertrand  Russell  remarks,  if  truth  exists  over 
and  beyond  our  thoughts  about  it,  then,  in  case  we  disagree, 
we  can  at  least  have  some  assurance  that  our  dispute  can 
be  brought  for  pacific  settlement  to  an  absolutely  just  tri¬ 
bunal.  The  right  will  decide.  But  if  there  is  no  such 
reality,  the  appeal  to  “satisfaction’’  and  “successful  work¬ 
ing”  may  very  easily  lead  to  justifying  success  on  the 


10  Dewey,  Democracy  and  Education,  p.  360. 


THE  PRAGMATIST  CRITICISM 


181 


ground  that  it  is  success,  that  is,  might  makes  right.^^  If 
it  is  indeed  a  fact  that  our  ideals  represent  chiefly,  if  not 
entirely,  the  rationalizing  of  our  desires,  we  might  as  well 
give  up  the  attempt  to  understand  one  another.  If  Kant, 
for  example,  is  talking  not  truth  but  only  Kantianism, 
how  can  we  be  so  sure  that  Pragmatists  are  talking  not 
truth  but  only  Pragmatist  prejudice?  If  there  are  no 
absolute  standards,  opponents  may  never  hope  to  come  to 
the  accord  of  reason.  But  if  absolute  rightness  exists,  we 
know  that  there  is  a  ground  on  which  we  can  unite.  And 
it  certainly  does  not  follow  that  the  assertion  of  absolutes 
and  the  quest  for  such  places  of  agreement  need  be  any 
more  conducive  to  brute  strife  than  the  pitting  of  one 
desire  against  another. 

Democracy  need  have  no  fear  of  the  idea  of  unconditioned 
obligation.  It  cannot  afford  to  have  young  people  grow 
up  unaware  that  the  difference  between  right  and  wrong 
is  not  a  matter  of  preference  but  the  most  objective  of 
realities.  Grant  that  the  laws  of  human  society  are  framed 
in  response  to  nothing  more  sacred  than  a  desire  to  escape 
trouble  and  that  the  rules  of  to-day  should  be  superseded 
when  to-morrow  brings  new  needs.  Grant  also  that  man 
errs  tragically  in  formulating  at  any  given  time  the  rules 
he  thinks  necessary  to  prevent  disorder.  But,  for  all  our 
blunders,  rightness  remains  something  other  than  desir¬ 
ability  ;  a  real  moral  order  exists  over  and  beyond  the  hap¬ 
piest  of  social  arrangements  men  ever  work  out;  and,  at 
the  very  least,  the  life  of  a  democracy  will  be  no  less  livable, 
we  may  be  sure,  when  its  children  are  reared  in  an  earnest 
appreciation  of  this  basic  fact. 

Does  this  imply  that  children  are  to  be  treated  as  candi¬ 
dates  for  degrees  in  rigorist  ethics?  No  such  folly  is  here 


21  Bertrand  Russell,  Philosophical  Essays,  p.  124. 


182 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


entertained.  But  the  note  of  religious  consecration  now 
*  markedly  absent  from  educational  practice,  as  from  life 
elseisrhere,  will  be  struck  more  effectively,  we  venture  to 
think,  if,  in  the  first  place,  our  teachers  themselves  are 
inspired  with  the  idea  of  a  supreme  task  laid  upon  the 
race  of  man.  Not  that  they  are  to  preach  it  at  their  pupils. 
But,  as  has  been  said,  the  teacher  of  even  the  youngest 
child  will  quicken  in  the  child  a  better  love  of  the  stars, 
when  he  himself  is  astronomer  enough  to  appreciate  the 
wonders  of  the  skies.  Nor  need  it  follow  that  the  sense  of 
ethical  reality  will  chill  the  creative  impulse  in  teacher  or 
student.  It  certainly  did  not  make  Beethoven  any  less 
productive  to  remember,  as  he  said,  that  ‘  ‘  the  true 
artist  .  sees  that  art  has  no  limits;  he  feels  darkly  how 
far  he  is  from  the  goal.’’  The  teacher  who  has  a  sense  of 
infinite  horizons  for  the  development  of  noble  personality 
will  make  his  own  work  more  genuinely  creative.  One  who 
recognizes  the  sublimities  of  the  perfect  life  and  their  com¬ 
pelling  claims  will  be  more  alert  to  find  opportunities  for 
young  people  to  share  with  him  as  far  as  possible  his  sense 
of  the  vast  reaches  to  be  kept  in  view.  And  the  life  of  youth 
need  be  no  less  joyous  than  it  is  now  in  progressive  schools 
when  the  atmosphere  is  one  of  high  moral  seriousness. 

In  the  second  place,  the  school  will  see  the  importance 
of  cultivating  habits  of  ethical  reflection.  Most  Prag¬ 
matists  are  against  courses  in  moral  instruction.  The 
objection  is  justified  when  such  courses  become  substitutes 
for  experience  and  when  the  child  who  repeats  moral  pre¬ 
cepts  at  second-hand  imagines  it  is  expressing  moral  con¬ 
victions.  But  it  is  a  mistake  to  judge  from  this  wrong 
procedure  or  to  dismiss  the  need  for  ethical  instruction  on 
the  ground  that  ^‘experience  is  primarily  an  active-passive 
affair;  it  is  not  primarily  cognitive. ”  Does  this  mean 


22  Dewey,  Democracy  and  Education^  p.  164 


THE  PRAGMATIST  CRITICISM 


183 


anything  more  than  that  attempts  to  enlighten  the  moral 
judgments  by  formal  instruction  are  not  the  whole  of 
moral  education?  The  plea  for  moral  teaching  does  not 
ask  that  the  need  for  all  the  other  agencies  be  slighted 
thereby.  It  asks  only  that  it  be  recognized  as  one  essential. 
After  the  warning  that  experience  is  not  primarily  cogni¬ 
tive,  Professor  Dewey  adds : 

But  the  measure  of  the  value  of  an  experience  lies  in  the 
perception  of  relationships  or  continuities  to  which  it  leads  up. 
It  includes  cognition  in  the  degree  in  which  it  is  cumulative  or 
leads  to  something  or  has  meaning.  .  .  .  No  experience  having 
a  meaning  is  possible  without  some  element  of  thought. 

If  the  thought  element  is  thus  admitted  to  be  important, 
why  not  set  a  chair  for  it? 

The  need  of  experience  is  certainly  not  greater  than  the 
need  of  the  constant  thinking  indispensable  to  still  better 
experience.  This  matter  we  shall  discuss  in  detail  later.^'^ 
Here  we  must  content  ourselves  with  remarking  that  unless 
teachers  and  pupils  meet  for  the  specific  purpose  of  elevat¬ 
ing  their  standards,  the  tendency  becomes  to  accept  judg¬ 
ments  which  do  no  more  than  refiect  the  prevailing  level 
of  the  society  around  us.  A  glance  at  the  activities  listed 
in  such  a  book  as  Schools  of  To-morrow  reveals  the  fact 
that  these  undertakings,  useful  as  they  undoubtedly  are, 
in  the  main  lead  to  little  more  than  learning  what  things 
are  done  by  society  now  and  how  they  are  done,  whereas 
the  crying  need  is  for  the  school  to  lead  society  to  the 
doing  of  things  which  are  better  than  those  done  now. 
To  learn  by  experience  how  a  house  is  built,  how  a  bank  is 
run,  how  a  lunch  room  is  conducted,  how  school  supplies 
are  made  and  bought,  is  good  as  far  as  it  goes.  It  is  indeed 
better  than  hearsay;  and  it  is  true  that,  before  we  can 


23  Ihid.,  p.  169. 

24  Chapter  XII,  “Direct  Moral  Instruction.” 


184 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


improve  upon  prevailing  aims  and  practices,  we  must  first 
understand  them  as  they  are  now.  But,  unless  it  is  kept 
clearly  in  sight  that  the  ultimate  object  of  learning  how 
things  are  done  now  is  that  the  human  race  shall  become  a 
better  race  than  to-day’s  by  doing  better  things,  there  is 
every  danger  of  contentment  with  things  as  they  are,  done 
efficiently,  of  course,  but  for  no  higher  reasons  than  before. 
Skilled  in  the  understanding  of  things  as  they  are,  how 
will  young  people  learn  to  understand  things  as  they  ought 
to  be  ?  Where  will  they  get  the  standards  by  which  to  dis¬ 
criminate  between  good  and  bad,  and — of  cardinal  impor¬ 
tance  to  a  progressive  democracy — between  good  and 
better  ? 

This  is  the  reason  for  setting  time  aside  for  studying 
ideals.  It  is  a  leading  justification  for  teaching  literature 
and  the  other  art  subjects,  a  field,  characteristically  enough, 
in  which  Pragmatism  is  less  occupied  than  it  is  in  the 
utilitarian.  The  function  of  these  is  to  reveal,  not  merely 
how  man  lives,  but  how,  in  the  light  of  ideal  excellence,  he 
ought  to  live.  To  catch  the  inspiration  of  great  lives 
through  biography,  to  appreciate  the  wisdom  of  life  con¬ 
veyed  in  a  beautiful  tale  or  memorable  saying,  to  compare 
types  of  behavior  according  to  the  highest  principles  we 
can  help  youth  to  understand,  to  promote  visions  of  a  so¬ 
ciety  infinitely  more  praiseworthy  in  its  relationships  than 
to-day’s — all  this  is  important  enough  to  receive  definite 
place  in  the  school  program.  Constantly  higher  standards 
must  always  be  set  to  correct  the  arresting  tendency  of  occu¬ 
pation  with  things  as  they  are. 

This  is  peculiarly  the  need  of  a  country  so  given  as  ours 
to  the  worship  of  the  practical,  so  fond  of  strenuousness, 
and,  at  the  same  time,  so  willing  to  trust  to  luck,  to  let 
things  drift  without  far-reaching  plan.  Pragmatist  edu¬ 
cation  does  indeed  want  something  better.  But  it  has  not 
yet  seen  the  need  of  reflection  upon  the  aim  of  ultimate 


THE  PRAGMATIST  CRITICISM 


185 


consequence,  quickened  understanding  of  the  best  there  is 
about  the  souls  of  men.  To  be  sure,  no  sound  education 
wants  little  children  to  spend  periods  in  moral  introspec¬ 
tion.  The  chapters  that  follow  will  indicate  the  something 
better  we  have  in  mind  when  we  speak  of  ethical  thought¬ 
fulness.  But  the  need  for  such  reflection  is  all  important. 
Democracy  requires  at  all  times  the  guidance  of  the  very 
highest  of  ethical  ideals.  A  constantly  freshened  under¬ 
standing  of  them  is  indispensable. 

Everything  hangs  upon  the  ultimate  objects  we  set  before 
us.  In  Pragmatist  language,  we  need  a  principle  of  or¬ 
ganization  for  an  enlarging  experience.  “Efficiency,’^ 
*  ‘  growth,  ”  “  control  ’  ’  should  be  very  definitely  understood, 
not  as  ends  in  themselves,  but  as  aids  to  the  developing  of 
ethical  personality.  An  efficient  society  may  be  skilled  in 
the  most  effective  production  of  want-satisfiers  without  ask¬ 
ing  itself  what  these  wants  and  their  satisfaction  contribute 
to  helping  or  marring  the  inner  life.  Growth  and  control 
of  experience  are  only  as  worth  while  as  their  direction  is. 
All  the  so-called  virtues  are  instrumental.  A  cool  head  is 
as  useful  to  the  burglar  as  it  is  to  the  surgeon.  Profiteer¬ 
ing  interlocking  directorates  practice  group-activity  and  co¬ 
operation  as  truly  as  athletic  teams.  But  a  community  in 
which  each  man,  woman,  and  child  so  lives  that  everybody 
else  is  enabled  to  appreciate  better  the  reality  of  the  highest 
best  for  life  is  practicing  ethical  cooperation. 

The  best,  therefore,  about  Instrumentalism  in  education 
is  its  reminder  of  how  many  instruments  available  for 
moral  progress  exist  in  the  native  tendencies  to  activity. 
It  has  performed  excellent  service  in  showing  the  folly  of 
choosing  school  work  without  regard  to  these  propensities. 
Its  service,  however,  has  been  greater  in  exposing  the  harm 
done  by  the  traditional  schooling  than  in  pointing  to  con¬ 
crete,  positive  ends.  Much  has  come  from  learning  what  a 


186  EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 

waste  it  is  to  keep  children  by  threats  or  bribes  at  studies 
they  dislike.  Is  it  true  that  the  reverse  is  good  ?  Professor 
Dewey  himself  answers  in  the  negative  to  those  extremist 
followers  who  quote  him  to  defend  their  schools  of  “free’’ 
<  (and  confused)  activity.  A  life  of  unguided  instinct,  he 
insists,  is  not  at  all  to  be  the  aim.  What  should  the  ob¬ 
jective  be  ?  We  need  more  light  upon  it  than  is  shed  by  the 
ideal  of  “enlarged  experience.”  The  specific  content  of 
that  experience  requires  a  more  thoroughgoing  ethical 
philosophy. 


Questions  and  Problems 

1.  What  pragmatist  methods  were  employed  in  your  schooling? 
What  benefit  did  you  derive  from  them? 

2.  Explain  why  it  is  charged  against  many  schools  that  the 
further  the  child  travels  from  the  kindergarten,  the  poorer 
its  education  becomes. 

3.  Recall  any  experience  where  a  piece  of  work  became  inter¬ 
esting  only  after  you  had  mastered  the  early  and  uninterest¬ 
ing  steps. 

4.  Describe  any  methods  of  your  own  for  making  a  dogged 
grind  less  dreary. 

5.  Should  one^s  aims  be  so  high  that  one  necessarily  falls  short 
or  should  the  goals  be  within  reach?  How  may  partial 
failure  in  the  first  case  be  made  tolerable,  even  beneficial  ? 

6.  What  dangers  are  there  in  laying  down  the  moral  law  as 
something  indisputable?  What  dangers  are  there  in  holding 
that  there  are  no  absolute  laws?  Describe  the  educational 
practice  that  would  avoid  both  dangers. 

7.  On  the  basis  of  the  principle  illustrated  in  Mark  Twain^s 
The  Man  That  Corrupted  Hadleyhurg,  would  you  advocate 
early  practice  in  overcoming  the  temptations  likely  to  be 
met  later  in  life? 


References 

See,  besides  references  quoted  in  the  text: 

Adams,  G.  P.,  Idealism  and  the  Modern  Age. 
Bode,  B.  H.,  Essentials  of  Educational  Theory. 


THE  PRAGMATIST  CRITICISM 


187 


DeweY;  John,,  Human  Nature  and  Conduct;  Interest  and  Effort 
in  Education;  Moral  Principles  in  Education. 

Leighton,  J.  A.,  The  Field  of  Philosophy,  Ch.  XXII,  XXX. 
Pratt,  J.  B.,  What  Is  Pragmatism^ 

Schiller,  F.  C.  S.,  Humanism. 

ScHiNZ,  Albert,  Anti-Pragmatism. 

Shaper,  Robert,  Progress  and  Science,  Ch.  III. 

Webster,  A.  W.,  Pragmatism  and  Its  Critics. 


PART  III 


THE  RESOURCES  OF  TO-DAY  AND 

TO-MORROW 


CHAPTER  XI 


MORAL  ACTIVITIES 

We  have  dealt  thus  far  with  the  problem  of  ideals 
for  American  culture  and  with  the  forces  contributing  to 
the  shaping  of  them.  It  now  remains  to  examine  agencies 
for  giving  the  ethical  motive  effect.  The  illustrations  in 
the  chapters  that  follow  are  drawn  chiefly  from  the  life  of 
the  grades  and  secondary  schools ;  but  the  principles  apply 
just  as  truly,  we  venture  to  believe,  to  later  years  as 
well.^ 

The  most  important  moral  agency,  when  it  is  rightly  in¬ 
spired,  is  found  in  the  actual  performances  of  the  pupils 
themselves.  It  is  one  thing  to  hear  right  conduct  praised 
or  see  it  exemplified;  it  is  quite  another,  and  more  neces¬ 
sary,  thing  for  the  boys  and  girls  themselves  to  do  the  acts. 
Character  is  essentially  a  matter  of  action,  the  habitual 
performance  of  certain  kinds  of  deeds  rather  than  others, 
and  the  only  genuine  way  of  learning  how  to  do  these  deeds 
is  to  do  them,  just  as  the  only  way  to  learn  tennis  is  to 
play  it.  Nobody  really  understands  what  ‘‘responsibility’’ 
means  until  he  has  been  entrusted  with  a  task  that  has 
succeeded  or  has  failed  because  of  him.  So  with  respect 
to  “service,”  “generosity,”  and  all  the  possible  terms  of 

the  moral  vocabulary :  any  genuine  comprehension  of  them, 
—  -  -  -  —  -  - . . . . -  —  ■ 

1  For  recent  statements  on  values  in  the  subjects  taught  in  college 
and  on  the  methods,  see  Paul  Klapper,  College  Teaching  (World 
Book  Company,  1920). 


191 


192 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


as  Aristotle  pointed  out,  first  requires  practice  in  the  deeds 
themselves.^ 

The  better  schooling  of  our  times  has  seized  upon  the 
fact,  not  only  that  this  practice  must  come  first  in  the  order 
of  learning,  but  that  pupils  take  to  activity  so  much  more 
readily  than  they  do  to  the  relatively  passive  business  of 
listening  or  reading.  They  are  eager  to  engage  in  athletics, 
to  run  a  school  paper,  to  dance,  to  act  plays,  to  build,  to  do 
dozens  of  things  impossible  for  those  who  merely  sit  at  a 
desk,  study,  and  recite.  One  of  the  richest  veins  in  educa¬ 
tion  has  been  tapped  in  recent  years  by  turning  these  en¬ 
ergies  to  account.  Instead  of  frowning,  as  in  olden  days, 
on  the  desire  of  the  young  to  act  upon  their  own  initiative, 
we  have  learned  that  only  upon  these  very  interests  can  be 
laid  the  surest  basis  for  sturdy  growth. 

This  is  the  justification  of  the  large  measure  of  liberty 
which  so  surprises  the  old-fashioned  disciplinarian.  A 
group  of  mothers  who  had  come  for  the  first  time  to  see 
their  children  at  work  in  a  public  kindergarten  were  wor¬ 
ried  because  the  youngsters  were  engaged  in  painting,  ' 
handling  actual  paints,  and  real  paint-brushes.  Fears  of 
ruined  clothing  and  of  other  mischief  were  written  on  the 
mothers’  faces.  They  had  not  yet  realized  the  importance 
of  the  lessons  the  youngsters  were  receiving  in  being  their 
own  guardians.  An  easy  way  of  preventing  mischief  would 
have  been  to  keep  the  paints  and  brushes  out  of  the  chil¬ 
dren’s  reach.  So  too  they  could  have  been  saved  from 
doing  damage  with  scissors  or  with  the  crayon  which  they 
might  have  used  to  scribble  on  the  wall.  Keep  these  things 
away  from  the  children  and  we  prepare  them  admirably 
for  a  very  orderly  and  docile  existence,  but  we  are  not 


2  Some  of  the  material  used  in  this  chapter  has  already  appeared 
in  a  bulletin  prepared  by  the  author  for  the  Commission  on  Reorgani¬ 
zation  of  Secondary  Education,  entitled  Moral  Values  in  Secondary 
Education,  and  issued  by  the  Bureau  of  Education  (Government 
Printing  Office,  Washington,  D.  C.) 


MORAL  ACTIVITIES 


193 


preparing  them  for  democratic  self-government.  A  man 
can  be  kept  from  burglary  by  locking  him  up  in  jail.  But 
then  we  keep  him  not  only  from  doing  harm  but  from  doing 
needed  work. 

Repression  is  the  chief  reliance  of  the  despot.  He  may 
believe,  with  mistaken  benevolence,  that  people  who  enjoy 
liberty  will  use  it  mainly  for  mischief.  The  anxious  mothers 
were  sharing  this  belief  of  the  benevolent  despot.  They 
had  not  yet  grasped  the  point  that  a  child  does  not  gen¬ 
erally  take  to  mischief  more  readily  than  he  does  to  useful 
activities.  He  turns  to  disorder  only  when  he  has  nothing 
better  to  occupy  him.  Once  upon  a  time,  boys  got  into 
trouble  on  the  streets,  because  our  cities  gave  them  nothing 
else  to  do.  Now  we  construct  swimming  pools,  playgrounds, 
athletic  fields,  because  we  have  learned — what  the  kinder- 
gartners  have  long  known — that  the  way  to  escape  mischief 
is  to  keep  busy  at  worth-while  occupations.  The  children 
engaged  in  painting  were  too  busy  for  disorderly  pranks, 
and  better  still,  they  were  learning  self-mastery.  There  was 
no  need  for  them  to  be  told,  “Don’t  do  this  and  don’t  do 
that.”  They  were  controlling  themselves. 

The  old  way  discouraged  the  doing  of  wrong  by  what  it 
called  breaking  the  will.  The  better  way  seeks  to  develop 
the  will  by  providing  opportunity  for  self-direction.  Kin¬ 
dergarten  children  are  given  lumps  of  clay  and  allowed  to 
make  whatever  they  choose.  One  little  fellow  decides  that 
he  will  make  an  inkstand,  let  it  dry,  shellac  it,  and  carry  it 
home  proudly  as  a  gift.  But  this  result  depends  on  the 
use  he  makes  of  his  liberty.  He  may  waste  the  time,  or, 
after  beginning  on  his  inkstand,  he  may  want  to  change  it 
into  an  automobile  or  a  chicken  like  his  neighbor’s.  But 
when  the  morning  is  over  and  the  boards  must  be  put  away, 
he  knows  that  he  has  only  himself  to  blame  if  he  has  noth¬ 
ing  to  show.  His  choice  is  his  own,  and  with  it  goes  a 
readily  understood  responsibility  for  the  outcome.  The 


194 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


more  practice  he  gets  in  sticking  to  aims  of  his  own  choos¬ 
ing,  the  better  introduction  he  receives  in  the  self-direction 
needed  for  democratic  life. 

To  be  sure,  things  would  often  run  more  smoothly  if  the 
children  could  only  be  kept  still  and  all  working  at  the 
same  task  at  exactly  the  same  time.  But  such  smoothness 
has  to  be  paid  for  in  the  loss  of  initiative.  Troublesome  as 
initiative  is,  it  needs  more  to  be  trained  along  lines  of  re¬ 
sponsible  self-direction  than  to  be  discouraged. 

The  first  to  understand  this  point  were  the  kindergartners, 
and,  little  by  little,  the  idea  has  been  working  its  way  up 
into  the  grades  and  beyond.  As  we  shall  see  presently, 
pupils  are  now  encouraged,  not  only  to  choose  among  selec¬ 
tions  offered  by  the  teacher,  but  to  propose  and  execute 
projects  of  their  own.  One  may  still  go,  however,  to  many 
schools  where  practically  every  step  taken  by  the  children 
in  the  course  of  the  day  is  controlled  by  the  word  of  the 
teacher.  Here  is  an  instance:  A  class  in  an  elementary 
school  was  to  make  a  working  drawing  of  a  clock  bracket. 
The  teacher  began :  ‘  ‘  Hold  your  papers  ‘  the  long  way  ’  as  I 
am  doing.  Measure  two  inches  down  from  the  top  along 
the  left  edge  and  put  a  dot.^^  This  difficulty  being  dis¬ 
posed  of,  not  without  furtive  glances  at  their  neighbors’ 
papers  by  a  few  timid  ones  to  make  sure  that  they  had  not 
‘  ‘  disobeyed,  ’  ’  the  class  was  now  free  to  obey  the  next  edict. 
“Two  inches  from  the  top  of  the  right  edge  put  another 
dot.  Now  connect  these  two  dots  by  a  very  faint  line.  Now 
put  your  rulers  down,  and  let  me  see  what  you  have  done.  ’  ’ 
Having  thus  made  sure  that  the  upper  line  of  the  drawing 
was  parallel  to  the  long  axis  of  the  paper  and  properly 
distant  from  the  top,  the  teacher  continued  to  dole  out 
similar  minute  commands,  stopping  first  to  see  that  every 
one  had  drawn  his  dot  or  line  correctly,  and  then  issuing 
the  next  order.  The  work  was  then  put  aside  with  the  com¬ 
forting  thought  that  the  problem  of  an  accurate  working 


MORAL  ACTIVITIES 


195 


model,  rightly  placed  with  respect  to  the  four  edges  of  the 
paper  and  drawn  to  scale,  had  now  been  solved  satisfac¬ 
torily.  Moreover,  did  not  the  pupils  gain  valuable  lessons 
in  neatness,  in  listening  to  orders,  interpreting  them  cor¬ 
rectly,  and  obeying  them  strictly  ? 

But  the  whole  procedure  was  inaugurated  and  controlled 
by  the  will  of  the  teacher.  The  pupils  exercised  their  wills 
simply  in  holding  themselves  in  restraint  until  given  per¬ 
mission  to  act  out  the  next  steps.  But  as  democratic  char¬ 
acter  calls  for  more  than  such  passive  or  negative  control, 
the  youngsters  should  have  been  allowed  this  active  part: 
Even  if  they  had  not  originated  this  task  themselves,  they 
should  have  first  formulated  the  problem  which  they  were 
to  solve,  and  then  received  every  chance  to  make  their  own 
solution.  They  ought  to  have  been  free  to  suggest  and 
discuss  the  best  methods  of  meeting  the  difficulties  involved, 
in  order  that,  having  once  decided  upon  the  course  to  take, 
each  might  have  been  left  to  go  ahead  for  himself  with  the 
responsibility  resting  for  the  outcome  of  the  whole  on  his 
own  shoulders. 

In  all  such  cases,  mistakes  will,  of  course,  result.  But 
mistakes  are  highly  educative  when  they  happen  to  people 
who  know  that  they  themselves  are  responsible  for  doing 
better.  A  schooling  that  tries  to  forestall  error  by  rigidly 
prescribing  every  line  to  follow  will  fail  to  build  up  the 
habits  of  initiative,  free  choice,  and  self -amendment  essen¬ 
tial  to  democratic  living. 

All  these  better  habits  must  be  given  the  chance  for  culti¬ 
vation  in  the  daily  life  of  home,  school,  and  college.  Those 
ideals  of  a  better  human  order  will  mean  most  to  our  young 
people  that  they  have  made  some  attempt  to  put  into  prac¬ 
tice  themselves.  Prom  this  viewpoint,  consider,  for  ex¬ 
ample,  to  what  a  slight  extent  the  more  generous  traits  may 
be  developed  by  the  kind  of  school  procedure  that  ordi¬ 
narily  prevails.  In  too  many  places  the  aim  encouraged 


196 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


by  the  actual  conduct  of  the  work  is  of  the  type  that  lays 
major  stress  upon  ‘booking  out  all  the  time  for  number 
one/^  For  instance,  is  not  prompting  in  recitation  too 
often  punished  without  a  thought  that  back  of  this  offense 
is  a  kindly  desire,  which,  instead  of  being  thwarted,  should 
rather  be  encouraged  to  express  itself  in  some  form  of  gen¬ 
uine  helpfulness  ?  ^ 

This  is  not  to  imply  that  any  less  training  is  needed  in 
self-reliance,  cleanliness,  punctuality,  thrift,  courtesy,  hon¬ 
esty,  perseverance,  obedience  to  authorities,  respect  for  the 
rights  of  others.  These  still  remain  fundamental,  and  it 
would  be  folly  to  ignore  them  while  working  for  still  finer 
behaviors.  But  we  have  been  obliged  at  last  to  recognize 
that  equally  necessary  to  preparation  for  democratic  life 
is  practice  in  worthy  cooperation  and  worthy  initiative. 
We  have  learned  that  there  is  something  woefully  lacking 
in  a  citizenship  that  does  no  more  than  obey  the  law  and 
refrain  from  infringement  upon  the  rights  of  neighbors. 
We  can  no  longer  conceive  of  democracy  as  mainly  a  matter 
of  everyone  for  himself  within  the  limits  of  the  law.  That 
conception,  still  too  common,  is  symbolized,  as  Professor 
Dewey  has  pointed  out,  by  the  very  equipment  of  the  ordi¬ 
nary  classroom.  Each  pupil  sits  by  himself  at  a  desk,  which 
is  fastened  irremovably  to  its  place.  Each  occupies  his  own 
little  island,  from  which,  as  a  general  rule,  communication 
with  other  islands  is  forbidden.  This  rigid  separation  typi¬ 
fies  the  importance  attached  to  the  virtues  of  non-interfer¬ 
ence.  The  class  acts  as  a  group  only  in  obedience  to  orders 
from  headquarters. 

•  Such  a  method  overlooks  two  weighty  facts :  In  the  first 
place,  though  even  a  democracy  must  obey  orders,  the  rules 
are  not  decreed  by  an  autocrat ;  they  are  willed  by  the  group 
itself.  Responsibility  for  the  success  or  failure  in  the  exe- 

3  See  F.  C.  Sharp,  Education  for  Character,  Ch.  VII,  “Mutual  Aid 
in  Class  Work.” 


MORAL  ACTIVITIES 


197 


cution  rests  with  those  who  not  only  obey  the  orders  but 
make  them.  This  is  true  of  more  than  the  administration 
of  school  routine.  A  school  magazine,  for  instance,  is  in 
this  sense  a  democratic  institution  to  the  extent  that  the 
students  themselves  initiate  and  run  it.  It  chooses  its  own 
policies  and  selects  its  own  managers  to  carry  them  out.  It 
is  not  democratic  when  outside  pressure,  like  that  of  the 
teachers,  is  necessary  to  keep  it  up. 

Secondly,  the  members  of  a  democracy  must  be  animated 
by  the  spirit  of  cooperation,  a  spirit  more  constructive  than 
merely  refraining  from  interference,  the  spirit  of  freely 
working  together  for  the  positive  good  of  the  whole.  Initia¬ 
tive  is  encouraged  in  order  that  better  contributions  may 
be  offered  to  the  common  task.  In  short,  in  a  democracy 
ethically  motivated,  everyone  does  his  part  in  behalf  of 
worthy  enterprises  which  he  has  helped  to  will  into  exist¬ 
ence.  This  conception,  we  repeat,  is  a  special  need  in  the 
America  of  to-day  and  to-morrow,  now  that  the  old  rule  of 
‘^each  for  himself  without  infringement’^  has  proved  so 
sadly  unserviceable  a  tool  for  our  changed  and  changing 
social  order. 

To  expect  school  life  to  exhibit  the  perfect  working  of  a 
democracy  conceived  in  these  terms  is  unwarranted.  In 
the  matter  of  freedom,  for  example,  it  would  be  unreason¬ 
able  to  permit  inexperienced  children  to  enjoy  the  liberties 
that  only  mature  persons  can  manage.  But  the  principles 
of  initiative  and  cooperation  are  capable  of  being  put  into 
practice  in  many  ways  indeed  that  pupils  can  well  employ. 
School  life  should  be  organized  around  the  idea,  not  that 
each  student  is  to  do  his  utmost  to  get  a  better  mark  than 
his  neighbor,  but  that  all  are  expected  to  make  a  free  offer¬ 
ing  of  their  best  to  the  progress  of  the  class  and  the  school 
as  a  whole  and,  through  these,  of  the  larger  community. 
Bearing  this  in  mind,  let  us  consider  a  few  typical  instances 
of  the  resources  at  our  command. 


198  EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


Give  the  pupils  every  possible  chance  to  participate  in 
the  management  of  the  school  life.  Compare,  for  example, 
two  types  of  assembly.  In  the  old-fashioned  school  the 
pupils  gathered  to  sing  a  song  or  two,  to  hear  the  principal 
read  from  the  Bible,  to  listen  to  an  address  from  the  prin¬ 
cipal  or  a  visitor,  and  to  hear  individual  “star”  pupils, 
selected  by  the  teacher,  “speak  pieces,”  likewise  selected 
from  above.  Except  for  the  singing,  there  was  no  coopera¬ 
tion  on  the  part  of  individuals  or  groups.  The  management 
being  in  the  hands  of  the  teachers,  there  was  little  or  no 
chance  for  initiative  on  the  part  of  the  pupils.  In  the  main, 
the  chief  motive  to  which  appeal  was  made  was  the  desire 
for  individual  distinction,  a  motive  at  best  inadequate,  since 
only  the  few  had  a  chance  to  shine  as  elocutionists. 

To-day  the  better  type  of  assembly  is  run  by  the  pupils. 
Its  success  depends  not  on  the  execution  of  a  teacher’s  de¬ 
cisions  by  a  few,  but  on  the  voluntary  cooperation  of  all. 
Working  with  a  faculty  adviser,  they  select  the  program 
and  the  ones  who  are  to  carry  it  out.  It  is  a  striking  fact 
that  where  this  is  the  case,  their  choice  so  frequently  takes 
the  form  of  a  dramatic  offering.  The  reasons  we  need  not 
stop  to  analyze.  The  significant  thing  is  the  opportunity 
here  afforded  for  the  interplay  of  initiative,  responsibility, 
and  the  spirit  of  teamwork.  A  class  responsible,  let  us  say, 
for  a  dramatic  performance  as  the  chief  item  on  the  pro¬ 
gram  of  a  given  date,  is  at  once  put  to  it  as  a  group  to  do 
its  best.  It  knows  from  experience  what  it  means  for 
auditors  to  be  bored  by  a  play  poorly  chosen  or  poorly 
acted.  Realizing  that  the  success  or  the  failure  depends 
chiefly  upon  itself,  it  feels  a  real  obligation  to  select  wisely. 
It  must  therefore  encourage  every  individual  in  its  mem¬ 
bership  to  help  the  enterprise  along.  He  must  do  his  share 
to  choose  the  right  play,  to  pick  the  most  competent  per¬ 
formers,  to  act  his  own  part  well  (even  though  he  would 
have  preferred  the  leading  role),  to  assist  in  making  stage 


MORAL  ACTIVITIES 


199 


properties,  and  in  general  to  express  and  to  stimulate  the 
team  spirit  without  which  the  undertaking  is  bound  to  f  ail.^ 

This  is  the  point  of  view  for  all  the  activities  of  the  school. 
Hence  the  value  of  pupil  self-government  wherever  such  a 
scheme  represents  a  genuine  cooperation  among  the  pupils 
themselves  and  between  the  pupils  and  the  teachers.  The 
latter  are  not  at  all  to  abrogate  their  functions.  The  main 
point  is  the  intelligent  sharing  by  the  pupils  themselves  in 
the  responsibilities  of  their  own  school  community.  For 
their  period  of  life,  the  school  is,  or  should  be,  the  special 
field  for  their  activities  as  citizens.  The  proper  perform¬ 
ance  of  these  activities  now  is  the  best  preparation  for  the 
civic  duties  of  the  years  to  follow.® 

Hence,  it  is  important  that  pupils  learn  from  experience 
that,  among  other  things,  the  law  of  the  school  is  aimed  at 
their  best  interest.  This  they  do  see  most  readily  when  they 
participate  in  framing  and  enforcing  the  regulations  under 
which  they  are  to  live.  Thus  in  one  school  a  valuable  result 
was  reaped  from  an  experiment  in  leaving  the  care  of  the 
study  periods  to  the  pupils  without  supervision  by  the 
teachers.  The  scheme  worked  badly,  and  at  the  end  of  the 
year  the  faculty  voted  its  abandonment.  The  situation  was 
saved,  however,  by  the  student  council.  It  requested  that 
the  plan  be  given  another  trial.  It  saw  that  the  matter  was 
discussed  earnestly  in  all  the  classes,  proposed  certain  modi¬ 
fications,  and  pledged  the  student  body  to  faithful  perform¬ 
ance.  The  pledge  was  kept,  and  at  the  present  time  there 
is  little  likelihood  of  a  return  to  the  old  system. 

The  thing  of  special  value  in  affairs  of  this  kind  is  the 
first-hand  experience  of  the  students  in  meeting  the  prob- 

—  ■  ■  I  -  I  ■  --I  -  ,  — . ,1  ■  I  . .  ,  t 

4  For  illustrations  see  ‘‘Assemblies”  in  School  and  Home,  pub¬ 
lished  by  Parents’  and  Teachers’  Association,  Ethical  Culture  School, 
2  West  64th  Street,  New  York,  and  pamphlet,  “Morning  Exercises,” 
Francis  W.  Parker  School,  Chicago. 

5  See  paper  by  the  author  in  Proceedings  of  the  National  Educa¬ 
tion  Association,  1913,  pp.  41-45. 


200 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


lems  of  their  own  corporate  life.  They  appreciate  more 
readily  that  their  school  is  a  community  with  certain  func¬ 
tions  to  perform  for  the  good  of  the  entire  membership, 
that  is,  that  it  must  safeguard  the  health  of  its  members, 
protect  them  against  injury  from  the  indifferent  or  ill- 
disposed,  bring  the  ’weakest  up  to  standard  in  intelligence, 
refinement,  and  moral  character,  and  encourage  all  to  reach 
new  and  higher  levels.  These  are  the  tasks  of  the  adult 
citizenship  into  which  they  are  later  to  enter.  They  learn, 
and  perhaps  nothing  else  can  teach  them  so  well,  what  these 
tasks  require  in  the  way  of  free  and  generous  cooperation. 
How  much  their  understanding  of  certain  fundamental 
problems  of  democracy  is  furthered  may  be  gathered  from 
the  following  testimony.  One  student  writes : 

Whether  the  system  of  unsupervised  study  periods  works  or  not 
depends  upon  each  member  of  the  group.  Some  are  unable  to 
control  themselves.  They  make  the  plan  fail  since  the  teacher 
must  again  be  placed  in  charge.  Such  a  backward  step  usually 
takes  several  months  to  regain.  On  the  other  hand,  some  study 
periods  of  this  kind  may  be  carried  on  very  successfully  if  there 
are  present  enough  of  the  older  students  who  can  practice  self- 
control  and  are  not  afraid  to  take  it  upon  themselves  to  remon¬ 
strate  with  the  younger  and  more  unruly  pupils. 

Another  student  writes : 

Give  us  a  chance  to  do  something  on  our  own  responsibility. 
The  academic  part  of  school  life  offers  little  field  for  such  training. 
Perhaps  we  are  too  young  to  realize  the  importance  of  what  we 
ought  to  be  learning.  But  if  we  were  given  complete  control  of 
such  matters  as  study  periods,  athletics,  assemblies,  and  social 
functions,  even  if  mistakes  were  made,  it  would  not  be  a  very 
serious  matter.  But  I  doubt  if  many  mistakes  would  be  made, 
as  even  the  most  scatter-brained,  frivolous  people  at  our  age 
turn  out  best  when  given  responsible  positions. 

The  great  trouble  with  the  so-called  self-government  at  our 
school  is  that  the  faculty  doesn’t  seem  to  trust  us.  That  is  why 
there  is  so  little  interest  among  the  pupils  at  large.  They  feel 


MORAL  ACTIVITIES 


201 


that  the  student  hoard  is  a  mere  figurehead.  No  one  will  ever 
be  interested  in  anything  unless  made  to  feel  that  the  movement 
or  institution  needs  his  help. 

These  declarations  convey  their  own  comment.  They  in¬ 
dicate  incidentally  the  important  educative  influence  of  the 
pupils  upon  one  another.  That  ‘^even  the  scatter-brained, 
frivolous  members  turn  out  best  when  given  responsible 
positions’’  is  undoubtedly  due  not  only  to  their  sincere 
interest  in  the  tasks  thus  entrusted  to  them,  but  to  their 
being  held  to  account  by  those  whose  favorable  judgment 
they  genuinely  respect,  namely,  their  own  peers.  A  lad 
who  for  one  reason  or  another  can  escape  with  a  passing 
mark  from  his  teacher  in  English  or  history  knows  that 
bluff  will  not  succeed  with  his  comrades.  For  a  game  lost 
through  his  negligence,  or  for  a  performance  or  an  outing 
spoiled  by  his  poor  conduct,  he  is  certain  to  hear  from  his 
peers  with  a  sharpness  that  carries  home.  The  same  is  true 
of  more  than  reproof.  How  frequently  does  it  happen  that 
young  people  will  take  from  other  students  advice  which 
they  reject  when  it  comes  from  the  more  or  less  uncongenial 
world  represented  by  the  faculty!  Hence  the  wisdom  of 
enlisting  in  the  school  management  the  active  interest  of 
those  to  whom  the  other  pupils  look  up.  Democracy  rests 
upon  public  opinion.  The  soundest  public  opinion  is  gen¬ 
erated  where  the  best  leaders  receive  the  amplest  encourage¬ 
ment.® 

In  some  schools  the  chance  for  these  new  expressions  is 
offered  even  in  connection  with  what  has  always  seemed  to 
be  peculiarly  and  exclusively  the  concern  of  the  teacher, 
namely,  the  choice  of  topics  for  study  and  the  conduct  of 

■■■  — —  , ,  ■  ■  „  — '  — — ■ — .  I  , , .  ■ ,  » 

0  It  is  a  pity  that  where  the  idea  of  student  self-government  is 
broached,  teachers  so  often  think  of  it  chiefly  as  a  means  whereby 
offenders  can  be  disciplined  by  their  fellow-pupils.  Important  as 
this  function  is,  it  is  not  the  main  object.  The  more  the  students 
can  be  encouraged  to  use  the  student  organization  for  constructive 
purposes,  the  better. 


202 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


the  recitation.  Just  as  a  group  will  make  itself  responsible 
for  selecting  a  play  and  presenting  it,  so  in  the  course  of 
the  regular  work  in  history  or  in  science,  let  us  say,  a  group 
will  select  some  topic  for  investigation  and  hold  itself  re¬ 
sponsible  for  teaching  the  results  to  the  rest  of  the  class  or 
school.  Following  is  the  account  of  a  project  worked  out 
by  a  seventh-grade  elementary  class  to  present  to  a  school 
assembly  the  fruits  of  their  geography  study : 

The  problem  of  the  ^‘Evolution  of  Transportation’^  came 
through  the  art  work.  The  class  had  been  particularly  interested 
in  the  papier  mache  modeling  it  had  done  the  year  before  and 
wished  to  continue  this  work  in  some  form.  In  considering  a 
suitable  project,  the  majority  agreed  on  creating  a  picture  to  fill 
a  long  blank  space  on  a  schoolroom  wall.  The  picture  was  to 
have  color — the  suggestion  of  out-of-doors — and  it  was  to  be 
typical  of  the  work  of  the  grade.  In  the  study  of  geography 
some  mention  had  been  made  of  the  growth  in  transportation 
that  had  changed  the  ^Tocal”  market  into  the  “world”  market.  It 
was  unanimously  agreed  that  the  picture  should  represent  this 
growth  or  evolution  in  transportation.  This  problem  took  pos¬ 
session  of  the  class,  and  in  the  following  ways  was  carried  out 
by  the  several  departments. 

Geography. — The  geography  work  already  under  way  was  laid 
aside  for  the  study  of  this  new  problem,  as  the  subject  had  to  be 
well  understood  before  any  scheme  could  be  worked  out  for  the 
picture.  The  captains  of  the  five  permanent  committees  into 
which  the  class  had  divided  itself,  apportioned  the  work  by  con¬ 
tinents;  then  each  committee  undertook  its  task  in  its  own  way. 
The  members  of  each  committee  made  reports  of  their  findings 
through  pictures  shown  by  lantern  or  in  other  ways,  or  else  by 
models.  From  these  pictures  and  models  each  pupil  chose  some¬ 
thing  which  might  later  aid  him  in  the  big  composition.  Thus 
an  excellent  comparative  study  of  the  modes  and  facilities  of 
transportation  in  various  lands  filled  the  geography  periods  for 
many  weeks. 

History. — Manners,  customs  and  other  historical  factors  as 
reasons  for  progress  or  retardation  in  the  economic  life  of  many 


7  School  and  Home,  Ethical  Culture  School,  Winter,  1921. 


MORAL  ACTIVITIES  203 

peoples  came  under  discussion,  and  took  the  time  of  a  number 
of  history  periods. 

English. — Most  of  the  theme  work  at  this  time  was  on  subjects 
connected  with  this  problem.  A  number  of  English  periods  were 
given  to  the  organization  of  the  assembly,  and  to  criticism  of 
work  presented^ 

Manual  Training. — This  department  supplied  a  large  number 
of  models  showing  the  evolution  of  conveyances  on  land  and 
water.  New  models  were  made  and  added  to  the  collection.  In 
order  to  keep  models  safe  in  the  room,  hanging  shelves  were 
made  by  some  of  the  boys  who  thus  sacrificed  some  hours  of  after¬ 
noon  play. 

Art  Work. — The  art  problem  worked  itself  out  in  the  picture 
shown  on  the  wall.  There  were  five  committees  of  five  pupils 
each,  and  every  pupil  was  to  have  a  panel  in  the  finished  picture. 
Much  figuring  and  drawing  resulted  in  the  acceptance  of  the 
following  plan:  Each  committee  was  to  picture  the  continent  it 
had  studied,  so  there  would  be  five  divisions  in  the  picture.  Asia 
and  Australia  were  to  be  considered  together.  Each  of  these 
divisions  was  to  be  made  up  of  five  panels;  a  large  central  one, 
showing  the  most  distinctive  form  of  transportation  developed  on 
that  continent,  and  four  smaller  ones,  two  of  which  would  show 
water  crafts,  and»two  land  vehicles.  The  five  composite  panels 
were  to  be  put  together  in  such  a  way  that  the  large  central 
pictures  would  show  the  distinctive  progress  in  the  evolution  of 
transportation  in  the  world.  It  was  finally  agreed  that  the 
steam  locomotive,  the  steamboat  and  the  airplane  were  so  uni¬ 
versal  that  they  must  be  pictured  by  themselves  on  a  long  panel, 
which  should  extend  over  all  the  panels  of  all  the  continents. 

After  the  captains  had  made  all  the  assignments,  the  designing 
began  in  large  outline  drawings.  When  these  drawings  had  been 
made  acceptable,  reduced  to  a  scale  and  perfected  in  outline,  they 
were  traced  on  to  individual  pieces  of  wall  board  which  were 
sized  with  glue  and  made  ready  for  the  papier  mache. 

Meanwhile,  to  save  time  and  labor  of  paper  cutting,  it  was  sug¬ 
gested  that  confetti  be  tried  for  making  the  pulp.  One  committee 
experimented  with  the  confetti  which  proved  to  be  a  good  medium 
and  also  a  great  time-saver.  When  the  modeling  was  finished,  all 
the  twenty-five  parts  were  assembled,  arranged,  and  the  painting 
of  the  background  planned  so  as  to  bring  out  unity  in  the  whole 
panel.  Tempora  paints  were  used,  and  shellac  was  added  to  keep 
out  the  dust. 


204 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


Mathematics. — One  of  the  most  difficult  considerations  of  all 
came  in  adapting  the  plan  to  the  space  the  picture  was  to 
decorate.  Much  measuring  and  proportioning  was  done,  and 
many  complicated  plans  laid  aside,  before  an  acceptable  drawing 
was  turned  over  to  the  boys  who  were  to  saw  the  wall  board  into 
just  the  proper  sizes  required. 

The  Assembly. — The  Assembly  was  an  outgrowth  of  the  interest 
in  the  project,  and  by  no  means  an  aim  while  doing  the  work.  It 
might  possibly  be  thought  of  as  an  excellent  form  of  test,  requir¬ 
ing  so  much  condensation  of  the  matter  covered,  and  so  careful 
a  consideration  and  balancing  of  values,  as  to  result  in  the  best 
form  of  review  and  drill.  The  sense  of  possessing  a  knowledge 
of  facts  and  a  power  of  comprehension  so  much  greater  than  they 
were  able  to  present  in  an  assembly  talk  of  twenty  minutes,  gave 
to  the  class  a  taste  of  the  joy  of  power  in  a  subject.  The 
opportunities  the  assemblies  afford  for  such  summaries  of  work 
are  invaluable.® 

In  all  these  activities  it  should  be  our  aim  to  call  upon 
the  worthiest  motives  we  can  get.  Cooperation  in  itself  is 
not  essentially  ethical.  Everything  depends  upon  its  ob¬ 
jectives.  All  encouragement  should  therefore  be  given  to 
cooperative  enterprises  in  aid  of  philanthropies  and  other 
forms  of  civic  welfare.  No  one  can  fail  to  appreciate  the 
moral  value  of  these  activities  after  seeing  a  class  go  through 
all  the  steps  involved  in  an  undertaking  such  as  the  follow- 


8  “Given  opportunity  under  the  right  conditions  for  making  plans 
and  working  out  their  own  ideas,  children  show  a  resourcefulness 
and  ingenuity  which  compared  with  the  lack  of  it  shown  by  many 
adults,  suggests  the  possibility  that  the  emphasis  we  have  placed 
on  the  acquisition  of  isolated  facts  has  hindered  rather  than  fur¬ 
thered  the  mental  development  of  children.” — Meredith  Smith,  “The 
Community  Project,”  Survey,  June  4,  1921,  p.  303.  See  also  M.  R. 
Goodlander,  Education  Through  Experience :  A  Four-Year  Experi¬ 
ment  in  the  Ethical  Culture  School  (Bureau  of  Educational  Experi¬ 
ments,  16  West  8th  Street,  New  York,  1921).  Other  illustrations 
will  be  found  in  C.  C.  Scott,  Social  Education;  John  Dewey,  Schools 
of  To-morrow  and  Flew  Schools  for  Old;  W.  H.  Kilpatrick,  “The 
Project  Method,”  in  Teachers’  College  Record,  Vol.  XIX;  C.  A. 
McMurry,  Teaching  by  Projects',  J.  A.  Stevenson,  Project  Method  of 
Teaching ;  M.  E.  Wells,  A  Project  Curriculum. 


MORAL  ACTIVITIES 


205 


ing:  A  class  which  had  become  interested  in  the  problem 
of  a  poor  family  decided  that  the  best  help  it  could  give 
was  to  raise  money  toward  a  fund  to  enable  the  daughter 
to  take  a  two-year  course  at  a  technical  school  instead  of 
going  to  work  at  once.  The  value  of  what  was  taught  by 
this  discussion  alone  is  apparent.  Then  came  the  consid¬ 
eration  of  ways  and  means,  candy  sales,  dramatic  perform¬ 
ance,  and  so  on.  The  problem  enlisted  the  participation  of 
every  member  of  the  class  in  one  committee  or  another. 
From  the  beginning  to  the  final  handing  over  of  the  money 
to  the  settlement  worker  in  charge,  no  one  was  without  some 
responsibility  to  his  class  for  some  share  in  this  laudable 
project  which  the  class  as  a  whole  had  voted. 

Here  is  an  account  of  an  excellent  project  on  a  larger 
scale,  voted  by  the  student  council  for  an  entire  school :  ® 

This  year  the  committee  of  the  Student  Council  had  arranged 
to  celebrate  the  Pilgrim  Ter-Centenary,  when  several  speakers 
brought  vividly  before  the  school  the  acute  suffering  in  China 
and  Eastern  Europe.  The  immediate  response  of  the  pupils 
resulted  in  a  complete  change  of  plan,  and  the  Pilgrim  Festival 
gave  way  to  the  Yarmarka. 

To  the  astonishment  and  possibly  the  dismay  of  some  of  the 
parents,  it  was  announced  by  the  faculty  that  one  week  would 
be  devoted  to  festival  work,  with  all  academic  studies  set  aside 
for  that  period.  The  time  selected  was  the  week  before  the  be¬ 
ginning  of  the  new  term  year  and  after  the  midyear  exami¬ 
nations. 

Taking  the  great  Russian  fair  of  Nijni-Novgorod  as  their 
model,  the  students  attempted  to  recreate  in  New  York  a  village 
bazaar,  or  Yarmarka,  with  merchants  and  jugglers  and  beggars, 
Europeans  and  Asiatics,  dancers  and  fakirs  and  peddlers.  The 
Student  Council  selected  a  Central  Committee  to  undertake  the 
entire  management  of  the  fair.  Each  member  of  this  committee 
became  a  chairman  of  a  sub-committee  composed  of  pupils, 
teachers,  and  at  least  one  parent  from  the  Parents’  and  Teachers’ 
Association.  There  were  nine  committees  to  shoulder  the  re- 


9  School  and  Home,  Ethical  Culture  School,  Winter,  1921. 


206 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


sponsibilities.  One  gathered  donations,  evaluating,  classifying, 
distributing  material  for  sale.  Others  had  complete  control  of 
the  decorations,  the  erection  of  booths,  the  designing  and  making 
of  costumes.  One  committee  had  charge  of  the  sideshows,  one 
of  plays  to  be  given  as  part  of  the  festival,  one  of  a  Russian  Inn 
and  Tea  House  where  Russian  dancers  diverted  the  guests.  One 
committee  arranged  a  concert  of  famous  musicians  which  took 
place  on  the  Sunday  afternoon  following  the  bazaar. 

Each  pupil  was  scheduled  for  special  work  during  the  days 
of  preparation,  so  that  on  Monday  morning  the  school  presented 
a  most  interesting  appearance.  In  every  room  there  were  groups 
with  pupil  chairmen  directing  work,  the  teachers  there  only  as 
advisers — an  ideal  school  of  the  future. 

Though  fully  $7,000  were  realized  by  the  Yarmarka,  this 
money  was  by  no  means  the  chief  gain.  Educationally  the 
experiment  was  valuable  in  many  ways ;  it  was  the  most  practical 
kind  of  education,  by  doing,  not  by  reading.  The  freedom  of 
action,  both  mental  and  physical,  brought  out  powers  of  leader¬ 
ship,  of  skill,  of  ingenuity,  of  originality.  Talents  hitherto 
unrevealed  in  the  non-academic  type  of  boy  or  girl  had  an 
opportunity  to  shine,  so  that  the  pupil  usually  a  follower  often 
became  the  leader.  Pupils  and  teachers  all  became  better  ac¬ 
quainted  through  equality  of  work.  Self-effacement  was  under¬ 
stood,  for  it  was  a  community  project.  Most  important  of  all, 
perhaps,  these  young  people  received  vivid  lessons  in  their  relation 
to  the  rest  of  our  human  society. 

Another  illustration :  In  a  small  Western  town  a  class  in 
civics  came  to  the  conclusion  that  there  was  need  for  im¬ 
provement  in  the  community.  It  arranged  a  series  of  public 
meetings,  invited  parents  to  attend  and  experts  to  deliver 
addresses.  As  an  outcome  it  helped  to  secure,  among  other 
results,  the  establishment  of  a  system  of  garbage  collection 
for  the  town,  the  employment  of  a  municipal  nurse,  the 
creation  of  a  public  park,  and  the  establishment  of  a  bathing 
beach  with  bathhouses  for  the  public  use.^®  Even  if  every 


10  For  details,  see  F.  C.  Sharp,  Education  for  Character,  Ch.  X. 
See  also  The  Social  Studies  (Government  Printing  Office,  Wash¬ 
ington,  D.  C.),  and  Dunn,  Teaching  of  Community  Civics  (Govern¬ 
ment  Printing  Office,  Washington,  D.  C. ). 


MORAL  ACTIVITIES 


207 


school  cannot  teach  citizenship  by  such  immediate  practice 
as  thi^,  the  principle  may  be  applied  to  local  conditions  in 
a  variety  of  ways.  The  chief  value  consists  in  learning  how 
to  work  for  worthy  social  ends  through  voluntary  coopera¬ 
tion. 

Let  it  be  repeated,  however,  that  the  way  to  cultivate  the 
spirit  of  service  is  to  begin  with  rendering  service  to  one’s 
own  immediate  community.  Hence  the  desirability  of  mem¬ 
bership  in  the  school  orchestra  or  glee  club,  of  running  the 
school  paper,  managing  the  school  bank,  assisting  backward 
pupils,  supplying  stage  carpentry,  making  bookshelves,  um¬ 
brella  stands,  waste-paper  baskets,  flower  boxes,  apparatus 
for  the  laboratories,  or  repairing  school  furniture. 

Nor  should  it  be  overlooked  that  services  of  this  kind 
draw  the  pupils  more  closely  to  their  school.  It  is  a  matter 
of  familiar  observation  that  people  are  apt  to  become  more 
firmly  attached  to  an  institution  by  reason  of  what  they 
themselves  do  for  it  than  by  virtue  of  what  it  does  for  them. 
Young  people  who  have  helped  to  build  a  school  playground 
or  prepare  a  school  garden  are  much  more  likely  to  keep 
the  grounds  in  good  shape  than  those  who  come  into  a  place 
where  everything  has  been  made  ready  for  them  before¬ 
hand.  Like  adults  thej^  cherish  that  to  which  they  have 
given  themselves.  The  experiences  related  by  Booker  T. 
Washington  in  Working  with  the  Hands,  have  been  proved 
true  elsewhere:  to  care  for  your  community,  perform  a 
voluntary  service  for  it. 

An  example  of  what  can  be  done  in  this  direction  in 
urban  high  schools  is  contained  in  the  following  report  of 
the  manner  in  which  the  new  pupils  were  registered  in  a 
public  high  school  in  New  York.  As  the  girls  from  the  ele¬ 
mentary  school  entered : 

They  were  met  at  the  door  hy  a  reception  committee  of  pupils 
who  made  them  feel  perfectly  at  home  and  showed  them  just 


208 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


what  to  do.  Each  member  escorted  a  new  girl  to  the  registration 
table  where  26  young  ladies  recorded  the  entrants. 

One  whose  last  name  began  with  K  formed  in  line  with  the 
others  under  the  placard  K,  or  if  her  name  was  Robinson,  she 
walked  over  to  the  girl  under  the  sign  R  and  told  her  all  about 
herself.  After  she  had  registered,  she  found  at  her  side  a  delight¬ 
ful,  chatty  girl,  who  treated  her  as  if  she  had  known  her  all  her 
life.  This  girl  took  her  through  the  building  and  showed  her  all 
about  her  alma  mater  to  be.  She  asked  her  what  she  was  par¬ 
ticularly  interested  in.  Did  she  like  debating  or  music?  Well, 
then  she  must  be  sure  to  join  the  musical  and  debating  clubs. 
And  she  took  her  over  and  introduced  her  to  the  presidents  of 
these  organizations. 

All  this  time  she  had  not  met  a  single  teacher,  nor  had  she 
received  a  single  order  or  command.  She  had  simply  been  wel¬ 
comed  to  her  future  alma  mater  by  her  equals,  who  were  glad 
that  she  had  come,  and  who  hoped  that  she  would  remain  to  honor 
the  school,  to  educate  herself  in  the  finest  sense,  and  to  form 
lifelong  friendships  begun  already  on  her  first  day. 

More  than  1,300  applications  for  admission  were  received. 
The  chairman  of  the  ushers  saw  that  every  girl  was  taken  care 
of  and  she  seemed  to  be  in  a  dozen  places  at  once,  always  pleasant 
and  hospitably  smiling.  The  principal  walked  about  the  school 
delighted.  He  knew  that  the  impression  these  hundreds  of  girls 
were  getting  on  their  first  day  would  abide  and  would  strongly 
initiate  an  attitude  of  cheerfulness  and  courtesy  throughout  the 
school  life^  ‘‘How  much  better  is  this,”  said  he,  “than  having  the 
new  girls  met  by  a  corps  of  teachers  tired  out  with  writing  down 
names.  Listen,  did  you  hear  that?”  He  was  standing  near 
the  main  entrance  of  the  school,  and  a  “Glad  to  meet  you”  rang 
out  clear  and  hearty. 

“Glad  to  meet  you,”  the  principal  repeated.  “Why,  if  the 
teachers  were  driving  away  at  writing  down  name  after  name 
would  they  have  time  for  a  greeting  like  that?  Would  they  feel 
like  giving  a  handshake  and  a  smile?  People  are  wondering 
why  so  many  youngsters  run  away  from  school  or  get  working 
papers  as  soon  as  they  are  of  age.  Why  don’t  they  stop  to  think 
a  minute  and  consider  the  spirit  in  the  usual  schools?  Nobody 
smiles,  nobody  has  time  for  courtesy,  nobody  tries  to  make  the 
boy  or  girl  feel  at  home.  Everybody  has  something  to  growl 
about,  to  demand,  to  enforce.  If  you  go  to  a  restaurant  or  a 
theater,  they  don’t  try  to  order  you  about  or  to  punish  you. 


MORAL  ACTIVITIES 


209 


They  try  to  make  you  feel  at  ease.  They  want  you  to  come  again. 
If  the  schools  tried  this  method,  the  number  of  pupils  who  leave 
before  they  finish  their  course  would  decrease  as  by  miracle.” 
[William  McAndrew  in  the  New  York  Globe.] 

Note  the  importance  of  what  those  pupils  received  who 
contributed  their  assistance.  It  is  true  that  only  a  small 
number  out  of  the  entire  student  body  enjoyed  this  par¬ 
ticular  opportunity.  The  principle,  nevertheless,  remains 
fruitful,  and  the  best  schools  of  the  future  will  devise 
methods  of  enlisting  every  one  of  their  students  in  activities 
of  cooperative  service. 

In  another  public  high  school  in  New  York,  the  pupils 
contribute  their  help  in  the  following  ways ; 

Do  all  kinds  of  clerical  work:  (1)  mimeographing,  (2)  multh 
graphing,  (3)  typing  reports,  (4)  act  as  secretaries  to  grade 
advisers  and  chairmen.  Serve  as  messengers.  Do  printing  for 
school.  Assist  weaker  pupils  in  scholarship.  Operate  the  tele¬ 
phone  switchboard.  Operate  the  school  bank  under  the  super¬ 
vision  of  a  teacher.  Edit  three  school  publications  under  the 
teachers’  supervision.  Build  equipment  for  school  (typewriter 
desks,  fire-drill  signs).  Operate  motion-picture  machine.  Aid 
in  community  activities:  Charity  organizations,  hospitals,  city 
departments  (block  captains).  Supervise  lunch  rooms.  Super¬ 
vise  movements  of  pupils  entering  and  leaving  building  and  pass¬ 
ing  through  corridors.  Patrol  corridors  during  the  day.  Receive 
visitors.  Make  sanitary  inspections  of  building.  Take  charge  of 
classes  when  teachers  are  absent  and  substitutes  cannot  be  ob¬ 
tained.  Handle  minor  cases  of  discipline  between  pupils. 

Another  such  school  has  squads  for  every  office  and  de¬ 
partment  in  the  building.  A  library  squad  of  twenty  mem¬ 
bers  assists  in  managing  the  library ;  a  chemistry  laboratory 
squad  of  twelve  members  aids  in  setting  up  material  for 
class  work  and  demonstrations  and  in  storing  it  after  use ; 
an  afternoon  help  squad  of  ninety-six  members,  developed 

II  ■■!■■■»  ■  I  „  I  I  ,  ■!  I  .  ,  > 

11  Annual  Reports  of  the  Superintendent  of  Schools,  1920-1922, 
“High  Schools,”  Board  of  Education,  New  York,  p.  16. 


210  EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


twelve  years  ago  at  the  suggestion  of  one  of  the  pupils, 
meets  four  days  a  week  after  school  to  help  boys  who  need 
aid  in  any  subject.  A  blind  squad  of  fourteen  members 
escorts  blind  boys  to  and  from  classes  and  to  and  from 
school  and  home.  It  helps  them  in  studies  by  reading  to 
them  and  translating  Braille.^^ 

Special  undertakings  may  be  suggested  for  selected  stu¬ 
dents  in  colleges  and  the  last  years  of  the  high  school : 

It  is  eminently  worth  the  trouble  to  form  clubs  to  intensify  the 
spirit  of  the  members  by  activities  pointedly  aimed  at  the  refining 
of  human  relationships.  .  .  .  Such  tasks  are  found  in  problems 
which  have  to  do  with  mutual  interpretation,  for  example,  black 
folk  and  white,  foreign  and  native  stocks  in  America,  delinquents 
and  the  community,  immigrant  parents  and  unsympathetic 
children.  Students  might  organize  clubs  for  one  or  more  of  these 
purposes,  for  intimate  discussions  of  personal  problems,  for 
public  meetings  on  the  ethics  of  the  vocations  and  on  the  more 
distinctly  ethical  phases  of  political  and  international  progress. 
Such  societies  can  do  much  more  good  for  their  members  than 
the  average  debating  club  with  its  premium  on  mere  forensic 
skill,  or  the  fraternity  with  its  encouragement  of  snobbishness. 
The  wholesome  thing  about  the  spirit  of  fraternity  should  be  set 
to  work  upon  some  such  creative  activities  as  here  mentioned. 
Not  only  does  the  comradeship  strengthen  faith  in  right-doing; 
but  these  practical  endeavors  offer  a  notable  help  to  the  deepening, 
extending  and  clarifying  of  that  interest  in  ethical  progress  with¬ 
out  which  there  can  be  none  of  the  intelligent  leadership  for  which 
our  democracy  looks  to  its  colleges. 

Years  of  experience  have  worked  out  courses  of  book- 
study  for  the  various  periods  of  life.  Young  people  can 
now  be  sent  from  kindergarten  to  university  with  the  as¬ 
surance  of  finding  fairly  standardized  study  material  for 
the  different  stages.  To-day,  moreover,  our  schools  are 
learning  what  rich  educational  resources  are  at  hand  in 


12 pp.  116,  117. 

13  From  a  chapter  by  the  author  in  Paul  Klapper,  College  Teach¬ 
ing,  p.  331. 


MORAL  ACTIVITIES 


211 


such  activities  as  this  chapter  has  described.  Their  value 
as  an  introduction  to  the  requirements  of  democratic  life 
is  now  unquestioned.  A  great  advance,  however,  still  lies 
ahead.  Not  only  must  we  provide  a  curriculum  of  activi¬ 
ties,  graded  like  the  study  material,  for  all  the  various 
stages,  but  even  more,  we  must  supply  those  activities  that 
will  lead  our  youth  toward  ever  finer  understanding  of 
spiritual  ideals. 

Questions  and  Peoblems 

1.  Is  cooperative  activity  in  the  young  hard  or  easy  to  get? 
If  you  do  not  find  the  same  true  of  their  elders,  how  explain 
the  difference  ? 

2.  Do  you  recall  occasions  in  your  own  schooling  when  coopera¬ 
tion  would  have  been  more  valuable  to  you  than  individual 
effort? 

3.  What  fault  is  to  be  found  in  athletics  as  the  chief  coopera¬ 
tive  enterprise? 

4.  In  Dorothy  Canfield^s  The  Bent  Twig,  the  heroine  makes 
right  choices  at  three  critical  steps  in  her  life.  What  in  her 
childhood  training  helped  her?  How  can  the  principle  of 
self-reliance  be  applied  to  school  life? 

5.  Study  Charles  Norris’  Salt  and  Samuel  Butler’s  The  Way  of 
All  Flesh  from  the  same  point  of  view  as  in  question  4. 

6.  What  are  the  advantages  and  disadvantages  of  a  formal 
system  of  pupil  self-government?  If  it  should  be  instituted, 
at  what  age  would  you  begin?  What  preparations  can  be 
made  in  the  years  preceding? 

7.  How  do  you  account  for  the  fact  that  the  training  received 
by  soldiers  in  self-restraint,  quick  obedience,  etc.,  does  not 
always  show  itself  in  their  civilian  life? 

8.  Explain  why  the  best  schools  have  done  away  with  corporal 
punishment. 

9.  Explain  why  bright  children  often  have  a  hard  time  with 
their  fellow  pupils.  How  is  this  problem  to  be  met? 

10.  Report  on  the  experience  of  teachers  with  regard  to  the 
honor  system.  What  conclusions  do  you  draw? 

11.  If  your  aim  is  to  have  “good  order,”  you  may  obtain  it;  but 
at  what  price?  If  your  aim  is  higher,  you  may  obtain  good 
order  and  something  more.  Illustrate. 


212  EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


References 

See,  besides  references  in  the  text: 

Baglet,  W.  C.,  School  Discipline. 

Dewey,  John,  Democracy  and  Education;  Interest  and  Effort  in 
Education;  Moral  Principles  in  Education;  School  and 
Society. 

Dewey,  E.  and  J.,  Schools  of  To-morrow. 

Fisher,  D.  C.,  Self-Reliance. 

Freeland,  G.  E.,  Modern  Elementary  Practice,  Ch.  II,  III,  IV. 

Fretwell,  E.  K.,  ‘^Extra-Curricular  Activities  of  Secondary 
Schools,”  Teachers  College  Record,  Jan.,  Mar.,  May,  1923. 

Goodlander,  M.  R.,  Education  Through  Experience  (Bureau  of 
Educational  Experiments,  New  York). 

Hannah,  J.  C.,  “High-School  Fraternities”  in  C.  H.  Johnston, 
Modern  High  School,  Ch.  XX;  “Moral  Agencies  Affecting 
High-School  Students,”  ibid.,  Ch.  XXIX. 

Hart,  J.  K.,  A  Critical  Study  of  Current  Theories  of  Moral 
Education;  The  Unprintable  Text  Book  (reprint  from 
the  Survey,  New  York). 

Klapper,  Paul,  Principles  of  Educational  Practice,  Ch.  X,  XIV, 
XXIII-XXV. 

Meriam,  j.  L.,  Child  Life  and  the  Curriculum. 

Patri,  Angelo,  A  Schoolmaster  of  the  Great  City,  Ch.  II,  VI, 
VII. 

Scott,  C.  C.,  Social  Education. 

“The  Social  Motive  in  School  Work,”  School  Yearbook,  Francis 
W.  Parker  School. 

“Student  Government”  (booklet,  William  Penn  High  School, 
Philadelphia,  Pa.). 

Wilson,  H.  B.,  and  Wilson,  G.  M.,  The  Motivation  of  School 
Work. 


CHAPTER  XII 


DIRECT  MORAL  INSTRUCTION 

This  chapter  aims  to  present  the  case  for  direct,  scheduled 
moral  instruction  in  those  schools  where  there  are  teachers 
competent  to  undertake  this  delicate  and  important  task. 
It  would  be  most  unwise  to  introduce  courses  of  this  kind 
at  once  into  every  class  in  every  school.  These  courses 
make  special  demands.  They  call,  in  the  first  place,  for 
grenuine,  eager  interest  on  the  part  of  the  teacher.  Lack¬ 
ing  this,  they  become  dry  monologues  or  the  perfunctory 
execution  of  so  many  items  per  period  in  a  given  syllabus. 
It  is  bad  for  pupils  to  dislike  the  reading  of  the  best  books 
because  of  poor  teaching  in  literature.  It  is  worse  to  have 
a  similar  dislike  associated  with  ethical  reflection. 

In  the  second  place,  the  teacher  must  possess  special 
knowledge  and  special  skill.  He  should  be  familiar  with 
the  principles  of  ethics,  with  the  classic  literature  on  the 
subject,  and  with  the  history  of  ethical  thinking  and  of 
moral  evolution.  It  is  especially  needful  that  he  be  trained 
in  the  application  of  ethical  principles  to  the  concrete  prob¬ 
lems  of  present-day  life.  Since  nothing  is  more  disastrous 
in  moral  instruction  than  academic  tediousness,  it  is  here 
particularly  that  the  teacher  must  possess  that  peculiar 
skill  which  can  bring  together  the  near  and  the  remote,  the 
immediately  practical  and  the  ideal,  in  ways  interesting, 
dignified,  and  productive.  Here,  more  perhaps  than  in  the 
teaching  of  any  other  subject,  are  required  those  special 
personal  qualities  by  which  the  confidence  of  young  people 
is  won  and  retained.  Among  the  temptations  for  the  teacher 

213 


214 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


to  avoid  are  censoriousness,  cheap  familiarity  for 

the  sake  of  ‘‘getting  down  to  their  level, and  the  pedantry 
that  emphasizes  trivialities  and  forgets  what  boys  and  girls 
may  reasonably  be  expected  to  outgrow  of  their  own  accord. 
Nowhere  is  there  greater  need  for  tact,  for  a  sense  of 
humor,  for  broad,  human  sympathy,  and  for  the  example 
that  speaks  far  more  convincingly  than  the  most  effective 
word. 

Where  these  requirements  have  been  met,  and  where  the 
other  agencies  of  the  school  cooperate  in  the  interests  of  the 
moral  aim,  the  advantages  of  supplementing  these  agencies 
by  scheduled  moral  instruction  offset  the  objections  com¬ 
monly  urged.  The  desirability,  therefore,  of  introducing 
such  courses  into  any  given  school  will  depend  upon  the 
special  conditions  in  that  school. 

That  moral  judgment  requires  a  carefully  planned  edu¬ 
cation  is  apparent  when  we  reflect  that  we  see  in  any  situa¬ 
tion  whatever — moral,  prudential,  assthetic — only  that  to 
which  our  attention  is  somehow  directed.  It  was  always 
true,  for  instance,  ever  since  the  first  pendulum  was  swung, 
that  pendulums  oscillate  regularly  in  periods  of  time  ac¬ 
cording  to  their  length,  but  until  Galileo  pointed  out  this 
fact,  nobody  seemed  to  be  aware  of  it.  So  it  has  been  with 
all  of  Nature’s  secrets  now  familiar.  Every  commonplace 
accepted  to-day  had  first  to  be  called,  at  some  time  or  other, 
to  somebody’s  attention.  The  same  is  true  with  regard  to 
facts  of  the  ethical  life,  and  the  need  still  exists,  renewed 
as  it  is  for  every  generation.  All  of  a  man ’s  years  are  none 
too  long  for  the  learning  of  all  that  can  be  known  here,  and 
youth  is  none  too  early  to  begin.^ 


1  It  is  easy  to  forget  that  facts  which,  to  our  adult  experience, 
are  most  obvious,  must  be  brought  explicitly  to  our  students’  atten¬ 
tion  even  in  secondary  schools  or  colleges.  A  certain  group  of  high- 
school  boys  fell  into  the  habit  of  assembling  in  a  thick  crowd  at  a 


DIRECT  MORAL  INSTRUCTION 


215 


Intelligence  in  general,  we  are  often  pained  to  discover, 
is  no  sufficient  moral  guide.  Is  there,  indeed,  any  such 
faculty  as  general  intelligence?  No  matter  how  well  they 
can  analyze  sentences  in  grammar,  children  cannot  solve  a 
problem  in  geometry  unless  they  know  the  data  of  their 
problem  and  have  been  taught  how  geometric  problems 
must  be  attacked;  they  cannot  find  the  hypotenuse  of  a 
given  triangle  if  they  do  not  know  the  length  of  the  other 
two  sides  and  if  they  are  ignorant  of  the  necessary  formula. 
For  the  same  reason  a  brilliant  chemist,  with  all  his  knowl¬ 
edge  of  chemistry,  may  be  as  inept  in  his  political  opinions 
as  an  illiterate.  He  cannot  judge  civic  problems  properly 
unless  he  possesses  the  facts  of  the  situation  and  unless  he 
uses  the  right  political  standards.  So,  likewise,  to  solve 
moral  problems,  no  general  intellectual  capacity  can  take 
the  place  of  a  knowledge  of  ethical  data  and  the  special 
ways  in  which  ethical  questions  must  be  approached. 

For  example,  nothing  needs  to  be  insisted  upon  more 
often  with  our  young  people  than  the  ethical  commonplace 
that  we  do  not  make  our  duties,  but  that  they  are  none  the 
less  real  for  that  reason:  Stevenson  did  not  choose  to  be 
afflicted  with  consumption,  but  the  special  obligation  laid 
upon  his  life  by  his  illness  was  not,  therefore,  to  be  escaped. 
Fathers  and  mothers  do,  indeed,  see  things  from  another 

subway  station  and  rushing  in  football  fashion  through  the  passage¬ 
way  where  they  were  to  drop  their  tickets.  Their  idea  was  that 
some,  at  least,  would  be  borne  through  without  paying  their  fares. 
Perhaps  they  were  actuated  as  much  by  love  of  fun  as  by  thrift 
or  by  a  familiar  enough  desire  to  get  the  better  of  a  railway  com¬ 
pany.  At  any  rate,  the  boys  had  to  be  reminded  that  they  were 
stealing  a  ride,  that  rides  could  be  stolen  like  other  purchasable 
things,  that  they  were  making  it  likely  for  the  ticket  collector  to 
lose  his  position,  that  they  were  giving  the  public  a  wrong  impres¬ 
sion  of  their  high  school  and  of  the  civic  value  of  education  in  gen¬ 
eral,  and  especially  that  however  able  the  railroad  company  might 
be  to  afford  the  loss  of  a  nickel  or  two,  no  lad  could  afford  to  sully 
himself  by  being  a  cheat.  Explicit  mention  of  this  kind  is  frequently 
quite  necessary. 


216  EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


angle  than  their  children’s,  the  growing  child  must  be 
reminded;  but  the  main  point  is  that  a  duty  arises  from 
that  very  fact.  Relevant  and  essential  data  such  as  these 
must  be  constantly  taught.  They  do  not  always  come  with 
intelligence  in  other  fields. 

All  in  all,  the  real  problem  before  us  is  not  whether  the 
moral  intelligence  is  to  be  instructed  or  not  instructed,  but 
rather  how  and  by  whom  and  by  what  it  is  to  be  taught; 
for  whether  we  choose  or  not,  children  receive  teaching 
anyway. 

It  is  impossible  to  withdraw  a  child  from  all  suggestive 
influences,  unless  he  is  brought  up  in  airtight  isolation.  He  will 
receive  suggestions  from  servants,  from  companions,  from  shop- 
windows,  from  the  life  that  he  sees  in  the  streets.  Thfe  efforts 
that  are  sometimes  made  to  bring  up  a  child  with  an  impartial 
mind  on  matters  of  religion,  morality,  or  politics,  in  order  that 
he  may  be  free  to  take  his  own  line  when  he  is  of  a  fit  age  to 
judge,  are  bound  to  end  in  failure.  From  birth  he  is  exposed 
to  contagion  on  every  side,  and  long  before  he  reaches  maturity 
will  be  tinged  with  prejudices  which  render  true  impartiality  of 
judgment  difficult  if  not  impossible.  Impartiality  is  a  state  of 
mind  that  arises  out  of  mature  knowledge  and  after  a  long 
process  of  examination  and  rejection  of  prejudices  or  precon¬ 
ceived  opinions.  With  immaturity  and  ignorance  it  cannot  exist.^ 

The  folly  of  trusting  the  development  of  judgment  to 
chance  information  cannot  be  exaggerated.  For  illustra¬ 
tion,  we  need  only  think  of  the  ideas  on  sex  which  children 
^  ‘  pick  up  by  themselves.  ’  ’  Such  an  education  is  unreliable. 
It  may  occasionally  teach  what  is  true,  but  it  does  not  do 
so  always.  Even  if  its  lessons  were  always  acceptable,  we 
could  not  trust  it,  because  it  cares  nothing  about  securing 
a  steady  growth  into  better  insight.  It  is  inexpert ;  it  often 
adopts  such  hurtful  methods  as  appeals  to  superstitious 
fears.  It  is  altogether  irresponsible.  Unlike  the  school,  it 


2  M.  W.  Keatinge,  Suggestion  in  Education,  p.  185. 


DIRECT  MORAL  INSTRUCTION  217 

feels  no  special  call  to  teach  what  is  best,  and  is  therefore 
just  as  likely  to  teach  what  is  harmful. 

It  is  especially  from  these  irresponsible  sources  that  our 
young  people  are  likely  to  get  that  dangerous  code  of  ethics 
which  asks  only  for  outward  conformity  to  public  opinion. 
The  following  statement  from  a  typical  devotee  of  the 
morality  of  custom  indicates  the  peril  which  a  sounder 
education  of  the  judgment  must  combat.  Lord  Chesterfield, 
so  often  held  up  as  a  model  for  youth,  writes  to  his  son :  ® 

The  world  judges  from  the  appearance  of  things,  and  not  from 
the  reality,  which  few  are  able,  and  still  fewer  are  inclined  to 
fathom;  and  a  man,  who  will  take  care  always  to  be  in  the  right 
in  those  things,  may  afford  to  he  sometimes  a  little  in  the  wrong 
in  more  essential  ones:  there  is  a  willingness,  a  desire  to  excuse 
him. 

When  public  opinion  is  the  sole  mentor,  what  harm  is 
there  in  having  one^s  fling  when  nobody  knows!  ^ 

A  real  man  of  fashion  and  pleasure  observes  decency;  at  least, 
neither  borrows  nor  affects  vices :  and  if  he  unfortunately  has  any, 
he  gratifies  them  with  choice  delicacy  and  secrecy. 

This  condoning  of  transgression  as  long  as  it  remains 
hidden  is  always  the  danger  when  there  is  no  better  guide 
than  the  opinion  of  polite  society.  Only  the  outward  pal¬ 
pable  observances  seem  to  be  called  for,  because  there  is  no 
understanding  of  the  true  reasons  why  some  acts  should 
be  frowned  upon  and  others  encouraged.  These  funda¬ 
mental  meanings  must  be  made  clear,  and  for  this  task 
there  can  be  nothing  better  than  wise  teaching  by  home, 
school,  and  church.  Not  by  any  means  that  custom  is 
always  wrong.  When  the  moral  significance  of  what  is 
good  in  custom  is  grasped,  public  opinion  can  be  used  to 

3  Lord  Chesterfield,  Letters  to  His  Son,  Letter  LXXIV  (italics 
ours ) . 

Letter  XVI. 


218 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


make  a  very  useful  contribution  to  character.  Adolescents, 
for  example,  often  tend  to  rebel  at  tradition,  to  glorify 
“  unconventionality,  ’  ^  and  to  stigmatize  the  requirements 
of  good  society  as  so  many  hypocrisies.  Valuable  as  is  a 
sturdy  independence  of  character,  nevertheless  there  are 
also  grave  dangers  in  this  youthful  point  of  view.  With 
all  its  sophistication,  this  period  is  apt  to  be  ignorant  of  the 
fact  that  back  of  many  “conventions’’  there  is  a  wisdom 
bom  of  ages  of  experience.  The  impatient  young  rebel 
needs  to  understand  the  reason  for  these  safeguards,  and 
here  teachers  can  be  of  .invaluable  aid.  Many  girls  in  our 
high  schools,  for  instance,  need  to  be  told  with  unending 
patience,  that  severe  as  the  standard  undoubtedly  is  which 
demands  a  stricter  code  of  conduct  for  their  sex  than  for 
their  brothers,  it  is  nevertheless  wisest  for  them  now,  while 
that  code  is  still  in  force,  to  accept  the  rules  about  chap- 
eronage,  introductions,  and  the  like. 

With  these  observations  many  teachers  may  no  doubt 
concur  who  nevertheless  ask,  “But  why  make  a  distinct 
subject  of  morals  and  give  it  a  prescribed  period  of  the 
school  time?”  Let  us  consider  the  objections  in  detail. 

In  the  first  place,  we  are  told,  there  is  danger  of  looking 
upon  morality  as  essentially  a  matter  of  knowledge.  Thus 
Professor  Palmer  of  Harvard  objects :  ® 

What  is  asked  of  us  teachers,  is  that  we  invite  our  pupils  to 
direct  study  of  the  principles  of  conduct,  that  we  awaken  their 
consciousness  about  their  modes  of  life,  and  so  by  degrees  impart 
a  science  of  righteousness.  This  is  theory,  ethics;  not  morals, 
practice;  and  in  my  judgment,  it  is  dangerous  business  with  the 
slenderest  chance  of  success.  .  .  .  Many  matters  do  not  take  their 
rise  in  knowledge  at  all.  Morality  does  not. 

This  position  is  easy  to  understand.  It  is  indeed  a  fact 

5  G.  H.  Palmer,  “The  Teacher,”  pp.  36,  37.  Reprinted  in  “Ethical 
and  Moral  Instruction  in  Schools.” 


DIRECT  MORAL  INSTRUCTION 


219 


that  life  is  not  shaped  by  reason  alone.  Instincts  and  habits, 
envy,  prejudice,  laziness,  all  undoubtedly  play  just  as  im¬ 
portant  a  part.  Often,  moreover,  as  Aristotle  pointed  out, 
our  intellect  cannot  even  be  convinced  that  a  bad  act  is 
really  bad,  because  our  habits  have  loaded  the  scales  of 
judgment  in  favor  of  our  own  special  practices.  A  boy 
who  has  been  used  to  lord  it  over  his  uncomplaining  sisters 
grows  up  for  that  reason  into  mistaken  but  firm  views  of 
masculine  superiority,  just  as  the  libertine,  fixed  in  his 
habits  of  indulgence,  cannot  understand  why  his  ‘‘perfectly 
reasonable’^  pleasures  should  be  condemned.  Such  also  is 
the  case  in  the  doing  of  the  right ;  here,  too,  the  part  played 
by  a  bare  thinking  is  frequently  very  small.  Many  of  our 
best  acts  are  as  immediate  and  unreasoned  as  a  mother’s 
rushing  to  her  baby  at  the  cry  of  pain.  In  view  of  these 
facts,  it  would  indeed  seem  true  that  direct  moral  instruc¬ 
tion  may  be  counted  unnecessary. 

Nevertheless,  because  a  mere  process  of  cognition  alone 
fails  to  bring  right  conduct,  it  does  not  follow  that  attempts 
to  enlighten  the  judgment  by  instruction  are  futile.  To 
trust  behavior  only  to  instinct  is  certainly  to  rely  upon  an 
unsafe  guide.  Instinct  itself  needs  direction,  for  it  is  just 
as  likely  to  lead  us  wrong  as  it  is  to  point  us  aright.  It  is 
the  experience  of  all  human  society  that  children  must 
somehow,  at  some  time  or  other,  be  taught  which  innate 
tendencies  to  suppress  and  which  to  encourage.  The  com¬ 
monest  method  is  to  infiict  pain  when  they  let  a  wrong 
instinct  rule,  but  as  they  grow  older  and  continue  to  act 
out  their  instincts  for  mischief,  this  surely  is  not  the  only 
way,  nor  the  wisest,  to  teach  them  right  choices.  Would 
anyone  maintain  that  children  can  never  be  helped,  even 
before  maturity,  by  appeals  to  an  intelligent  understand¬ 
ing  of  what  right  and  wrong  conduct  mean? 

It  is  equally  mistaken  to  hold  that  moral  development 
can  be  entrusted  solely  to  the  forming  of  habits.  To  build 


220  EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


habits  calls  also  for  the  help  of  intelligence.  Every  grow¬ 
ing  life  mnst  advance  by  breaking  many  of  its  habits,  even 
its  good  ones ;  and  how  is  this  to  be  done  ?  There  comes  a 
time,  for  instance,  when  the  child's  practice  of  indiscrimi¬ 
nate  alms-giving  mnst  be  superseded  by  wiser  charity.  In 
every  snch  readjustment,  the  significance  of  the  new  custom 
must  be  -made  clear.  If  it  is  to  commend  itself,  the  new 
line  of  conduct  must  at  least  appear  reasonable ;  and  here, 
it  would  seem,  there  is  a  decided  place  for  adult  counsel. 
What,  moreover,  shall  we  do  with  the  many  boys  and  girls 
who  come  to  school  without  those  habits  which  right  home 
training  ought  to  have  inculcated?  Some  word  of  helpful 
teaching  is  certainly  demanded  to  get  the  necessary  start. 

A  like  assistance  is  needed  to  make  so-called  experiences 
yield  their  best  fruit.  To  get  the  most  out  of  an  ^‘experi¬ 
ence,”  there  must  be  more  or  less  understanding  of  its 
meaning.  It  is  one  thing  to  perform  an  act  and  quite 
another  so  to  appreciate  its  significance  as  to  want  to  do 
more  and  better.  How  many  children  perform  acts  of 
punctuality  every  day  at  school  without  seeming  to  care 
enough  for  the  underlying  principle  of  courtesy  and  re¬ 
spect  to  apply  it  in  their  conduct  after  graduation  ?  Neces¬ 
sary  as  it  is  to  get  specific  acts  and  habits,  it  is  equally 
requisite  to  understand  why  they  are  needed.  A  boy  who 
is  disgruntled  because  he  thinks  he  is  a  good  pitcher  but  is 
obliged  to  play  center-field,  may  be  forced  by  his  comrades 
to  do  his  allotted  share  in  the  work  of  his  team  and  thus, 
according  to  some  teachers,  be  educated  into  obedience  to 
a  group  will.  The  simple  fact  remains,  however,  that  this 
experience  is  of  no  value  unless  its  ethical  significance  is 
understood  and  grasped.  Left  to  himself,  the  lad  may  get 
no  more  out  of  the  situation  than  a  mood  of  ugliness.  Far 
from  being  “socialized,”  he  may  feel  nothing  but  anti¬ 
social  emotions.  A  word  or  two  of  interpretation  may  do 
much,  however,  to  send  the  boy  back  to  his  undesired  post 


DIRECT  MORAL  INSTRUCTION 


221 


with  a  clearer  notion  of  responsibility  and  a  helpful  resolve 
to  live  up  to  it.  A  member  of  one  of  the  writer’s  classes 
told  of  a  pupil  who  had  received  such  help  in  a  situation 
of  this  very  sort.  Disliking  his  position  on  the  school  team, 
he  resigned  against  the  protests  of  his  fellow  athletes.  A 
month  later,  he  was  allowed  to  play  a  leading  role  in  a  per¬ 
formance  of  Julius  CcBsar,  where  he  acquitted  himself  with 
all  credit.  His  teacher  thereupon  reminded  him  of  the  part 
contributed  to  his  success  by  the  obscure  but  none  the  less 
important  efforts  of  the  other  actors.  The  boy  was  ashamed 
and  saw  his  selfishness  in  its  true  light.  Whatever  the  ex¬ 
perience,  it  counts  for  most  when  its  fuller  implications  are 
comprehended,  and  here  the  clearer  and  wider  insight  of 
the  teacher  may  render  valuable  aid.  It  is  no  argument 
against  direct  and  regular  instruction  to  say  that  this  in¬ 
stance  was  simply  the  interpretation  of  a  very  real  experi¬ 
ence.  Man,  unlike  the  animal,  is  able  to  profit  by  antici¬ 
pating  experience.  And  he  needs  to  have  his  experiences 
interpreted  over  and  over  again. 

A  second  misconception,  responsible  in  part  for  the  pre¬ 
ceding,  is  due  to  thinking  that  children  have  no  capacity 
for  reflection  upon  ethical  problems  before  their  late  adoles¬ 
cence.  Professor  Palmer  says :  ® 

The  college,  not  the  school,  is  the  place  for  this  study.  .  .  . 
Many  of  the  evils  that  I  have  thus  far  traced  are  brought  about 
by  projecting  upon  a  young  mind  problems  which  it  has  not  yet 
encountered  in  itself.  Such  problems  abound  in  the  latter  teens 
and  twenties,  and  then  is  the  time  to  set  about  their  discussion. 

Evidently  it  is  assumed  that  ethics-teaching  in  the  schools 
is  to  be  an  attempt  to  reconcile  conflicting  sanctions. 

Has  he  grown  up  unquestioning?  Has  he  accepted  the  moral 
code  inherited  from  honored  parents?  Then  let  him  be  thankful 
and  go  his  way  untaught.  But  has  he,  on  the  other  hand,  felt 


^  Ibid.,  pp.  46,  47. 


222 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


that  the  moral  mechanism  by  which  he  was  early  guided  does  not 
fit  all  cases  f  Has  he  found  one  class  of  duties  in  conflict  with 
another?  Has  he  discovered  that  the  moral  standards  obtaining 
in  different  sections  of  society,  in  different  parts  of  the  world, 
are  irreconcilable?  In  short,  is  he  puzzled  and  desirous  of  work¬ 
ing  his  way  through  his  puzzles,  or  facing  them  and  tracking 
them  to  their  beginnings?  Then  is  he  ripe  for  the  study  of 
ethics. 

This  study  is  further  declared  to  be  analogous  to  ‘‘phil¬ 
ology,  grammar,  rhetoric,  systematic  study  of  the  laws  of 
language,’^  “abstract  grammar,”  “theoretical  talk”;  “it 
should  be  pursued  as  a  science,  critically,  and  the  student 
should  be  informed  at  the  outset  that  the  aim  of  the  course 
is  knowledge,  not  the  endeavor  to  make  better  men.  ’  ’  ^ 

If  it  were  proposed  to  introduce  such  a  study  of  ethical 
science  into  the  schools,  the  objection  here  cited  would  be 
unanswerable.  But  moral  instruction  is  not  at  all  synony¬ 
mous  with  the  teaching  of  ethics  as  a  science.  To  see  what 
the  difference  is,  let  us  look  at  other  fields  of  study  in  the 
elementary  schools  where  the  same  misconception  obtains. 
Teachers  of  “nature  study,”  for  example,  have  to  be 
warned  that  they  are  not  to  teach  the  science  of  biology  or 
the  science  of  physics.  A  science  is  an  attempt  to  explain 
the  whole  ground  of  known  phenomena  by  relating  these 
to  certain  great  generalizations,  such  as  the  atomic  theory, 
or  the  evolutionary  hypothesis,  or  the  law  of  conservation 
of  energy.  An  organization  of  this  sort  represents  the 
needs  of  the  adult  scientist.  It  does  not  correspond  to  the 
needs  of  children.  For  them  there  need  be  no  more  than  a 
study  of  the  facts  of  botany,  zoology,  physics,  chemistry, 
geology,  that  affect  our  daily  life.  They  are  interested,  that 
is,  in  what  makes  the  electric  bell  ring  without  discussing 
the  nature  of  the  electric  current ;  they  want  to  know  about 
the  formation  of  a  river-basin  without  caring  for  the  de- 


7  Ihid.f  p.  41. 


DIRECT  MORAL  INSTRUCTION 


223 


tails  which  a  Lyell  would  demand  to  prove  in  what  period 
the  watershed  had  been  elevated.  The  same  point  of  view 
is  held  by  experienced  teachers  in  regard  to  other  subjects. 
They  teach  hygiene  effectively  without  going  into  histology 
or  comparative  morphology,  music  without  treating  the 
mathematical  basis  of  harmony,  grammar  and  composition 
without  giving  a  college  course  in  philology  or  rhetoric. 
They  do,  indeed,  teach  laws  and  rules,  not,  however,  be¬ 
cause  their  pupils  are  interested  in  generalizations  as  such, 
but  because,  and  in  so  far  as,  these  principles  help  to  explain 
the  concrete  things  of  greatest  interest. 

This  selection  and  organization  with  reference  to  the 
needs  of  the  pupil,  rather  than  the  demands  of  a  perfected 
science,  is  the  guiding  principle  in  moral  instruction.  Chil¬ 
dren  do  not  have  to  organize  their  ideas  of  right  and  wrong 
around  their  understanding  of  the  categorical  imperative 
or  the  theory  of  utilitarianism.  The  main  business  of  the 
school  is  to  get  them  to  perform  concrete  acts  of  right  con¬ 
duct.  To  be  sure,  the  older  they  grow,  the  more  we  shall 
want  them  to  organize  their  reflections  around  basic  ideas 
such  as  Kant^s,  “So  act  that  the  maxim  of  thy  will  may 
deserve  to  become  a  universal  maxim, or  better,  Felix 
Adler ’s,  ^  ^  So  act  as  to  elicit  the  higher  nature  in  others  and 
thereby  in  thyself.’^  But  the  goal  to  be  kept  in  view  is 
always  behavior.  The  generalizations  are  to  be  offered  only 
in  the  later  years,  and  only  as  a  guide  to  better  understand¬ 
ing  of  specific  cases.  The  aim  of  moral  instruction  below 
the  college  years,  is  not,  as  Professor  Palmer  thinks,  “a 
study  of  puzzles,”  but  an  attempt  to  clarify  the  meaning 
of  familiar  experiences  in  terms  that  pupils  can  under¬ 
stand  at  their  particular  stage  of  development. 

On  this  problem,  a  gifted  teacher  of  long  and  varied  ex¬ 
perience  writes :  ® 


8  John  L.  Elliott,  School  and  Home,  March,  1922,  p.  33. 


224 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


The  data  of  ethics  are  furnished  by  experience.  While  we 
use  the  material  of  the  fairy  stories,  the  fables,  the  Bible,  biog¬ 
raphy,  etc.,  it  is  only  used  in  helping  the  children  to  interpret 
their  own  experience.  Ethics  lessons  may  be  called  a  series  of 
interpretations  continued  through  the  school  year  and  developing 
as  the  children's  minds  and  natures  develop. 

Not  for  one  moment  would  either  the  ethics  teacher  or  the 
classroom  teacher  think  it  possible  to  neglect  the  opportunities 
for  indirect  ethics  teaching  that  school  life  gives  or  which  come 
out  of  the  history  and  ethics  lessons.  Constantly  there  are  rising 
to  the  surface  instances  and  experiences  in  which  the  child  is 
implicated,  and  these  are  invaluable  opportunities  to  the  parents 
and  to  the  teachers  to  make  a  deep  impression  and  to  render 
the  moral  insight  of  the  children  clear  and  vivid. 

There  are,  however,  two  reasons  for  also  using  the  direct 
method.  One  is  that  the  experience  of  any  individual  is  bound 
to  be  accidental.  Our  pleasures,  hurts,  friendships,  successes  and 
failures  all  depend  more  or  less  on  chance.  Nothing  is  more 
evident  than  that  fine  insights  in  a  person’s  mind  can  coexist  with 
opinions  on  other  subjects  of  equal  importance  which  are  utterly 
unenlightened.  This  gives  the  whole  life  a  spotted  character. 
And  a  good  life  is,  after  all,  made  up  of  one  piece.  There  must 
be  something  like  a  rounded  point  of  view  at  least  attempted 
that  the  child  may  go  out  into  life  prepared  otherwise  than  by 
accident. 

The  second  reason  is  this ;  While  experience  is  the  real  subject 
matter  of  ethics  teaching,  experience  gets  its  real  value  as  illus¬ 
trating  principles.  If  a  boy  or  girl  grows  up  as  most  of  those  do 
with  whom  I  come  in  contact,  without  any  touch  with  the  old 
faiths,  and  without  any  substitute  or  development  of  those  faiths, 
almost  inevitably  he  drifts  into  the  point  of  view  that  human  life 
after  all  has  nothing  permanently  or  fundamentally  good  in  it. 
Human  beings  cannot  really  fulfill  their  best  function  if  they  have 
not  some  sense  of  a  great  pattern  which  is  working  out  and  which 
far  exceeds  the  experience  of  any  individual  or  for  that  matter 
that  of  any  generation  or  race.  Life  at  its  greatest,  and  certainly 
at  its  strongest,  is  dependent  on  the  sense  of  contact  of  the 
individual  with  great  and  noble  principles.  Really  to  bring  this 
idea  home  requires  systematic  work,  and  this  can  practically  only 
be  accomplished  when  time  is  given  to  it;  when  it  is  taken  up 
not  as  a  poor  little  adjunct  to  the  practical  matters  of  daily  life. 


DIRECT  MORAL  INSTRUCTION 


225 


but  when  the  achieving  of  a  point  of  view  and  a  way  of  living 
which  is  really  noble  and  spiritual  is  put  at  its  proper  place,  as 
the  real  purpose  and  end  of  living. 

What  of  the  objection  that  yonng  people  have  no  interest 
in  ethical  problems?  Undoubtedly  they  will  resent  our 
expounding  a  science  of  ethics,  and  we  cannot  blame  them. 
Hear  them,  however,  debating,  without  any  prompting  from 
the  teacher,  whether  a  committee,  authorized  to  purchase 
athletic  supplies  and  discovered  to  have  accepted  gifts  for 
themselves  from  the  dealer,  has  been  guilty  of  “grafting,’^ 
whether  street-car  workers  are  justified  in  striking,  what 
are  the  rights  and  wrongs  in  current  events,  whether  a 
foreign-born  citizen  ought  to  forget  all  about  the  old  coun¬ 
ty.  The  interest  is  intense,  because,  among  other  reasons, 
^estions  are  here  raised  of  immediate  importance.  But 
from  these  points  of  departure,  a  good  teacher  can  lead  his 
pupils  to  deeper  and  wider  reflection  and  to  a  clearer  under¬ 
standing  of  far-reaching  principles  which  many  of  them 
never  dream  of  taking  into  account.  Moral  instruction 
does  not  at  all  act  in  vacuo.  It  assumes  that  children  nor¬ 
mally  do  a  certain  amount  of  thinking;  it  seeks  to  have 
them  give  more  thought  than  they  ordinarily  do  to  moral 
issues ;  it  endeavors  to  get  them  to  think  more  soundly,  and, 
as  they  grow  older,  to  have  their  thoughts  include  increas¬ 
ingly  remote  but  essential  considerations. 

Here,  for  instance,  is  the  comment  expressed  by  a  pupil 
on  the  problem  of  the  apparent  injustice  of  parents  in 
treating  a  difficult  child  differently  from  its  brothers  and 
sisters : 

The  parable  of  the  Prodigal  Son  has  always  been  of  great 
interest  to  me,  because  I  think  that  the  elder  brother  was  in  the 
right  when  he  said  that  he  had  lived  with  his  father  and  helped 
him  all  his  life,  and  no  feast  had  ever  been  prepared  for  him, 
and  now  it  was  unjust  to  do  honor  to  the  other  brother,  who  had 
wasted  all  his  father's  money,  and  at  last,  driven  by  cold  and 
hunger,  had  repented  and  come  home. 


226 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


Of  course,  the  elder  brother  may  have  spoken  with  selfish 
motives,  and  it  would  have  been  better  if  an  uninterested  person 
had  made  the  argument,  but  nevertheless  I  think  the  point  was 
well  taken. 

Of  course,  the  father  was  right  in  saying  there  is  more  joy 
felt  when  a  sinner  repents  than  at  any  one  time  during  the  life 
of  a  perfectly  good  man.  The  idea  that  there  is  one  less  wicked 
person  in  the  world  is  very  gratifying.  But  unfortunately  a 
man  cannot  be  wicked  unto  himself  alone — any  more  than  he  can 
be  good  unto  himself  alone.  Every  day  of  his  life  almost,  each 
man’s  character  makes  itself  felt  on  the  characters  of  those 
around  him.  Five  years  of  wickedness  on  the  part  of  one  man 
can  do  horrible  things — the  influence  of  every  wicked  deed  spreads 
quickly.  How  much  finer,  then,  it  is  to  lead  a  good,  though  quiet 
life,  than  to  be  at  first  very  wicked,  and  then  make  a  grand 
commotion  by  repenting  and  ‘being  converted.’ 

Of  course,  every  time  that  a  sinner  repents  should  be  a# 
occasion  for  great  gladness  at  the  thought  of  how  much  less 
wicked  the  world  would  be.  But  to  feast  and  do  honor  to  the 
repentant  one  is  to  me  a  piece  of  unfair  sentimentality,  putting 
a  premium  on  romantic  wickedness  and  conversion.  It  is  unfair 
to  the  rep  enter,  to  the  one  who  has  been  good  all  along,  and  to 
society  in  general. 

These  remarks  were  called  forth  in  a  discussion  of  the 
parable  with  the  practical  purpose  of  getting  light  on  a 
question  in  which  brothers  and  sisters  can  very  easily  be 
interested.  Evidently  this  pupil  was  doing  some  thinking 
upon  the  problem.  Surely  such  thought  can  be  helped  by 
the  class  discussion  and  by  the  suggestions  offered  by  the 
teacher.  The  same  is  true  of  these  questions  which  an 
eighth-grade  class  desired  to  have  discussed  after  several 
periods  had  been  spent  upon  the  laws  of  their  state : 

Is  gambling  wrong? 

Why  is  ignorance  of  the  law  no  excuse? 

If  a  public  officer  does  his  duty  and  you  pay  him  for  it,  is  that 
the  same  as  giving  him  a  bribe  ? 

When  you  have  a  weak  will,  how  can  you  strengthen  it? 

Is  it  right  to  play  baseball  on  Sunday? 

Should  we  stop  strikes  by  law? 


DIRECT  MORAL  INSTRUCTION 


227 


Is  it  right  to  play  baseball  for  money? 

When  something  is  done  in  the  class  room,  is  it  right  for  you  to 
tell  on  the  person,  if  you  know  who  did  it  ? 

If  you  find  something  that  is  not  yours,  should  you  keep  it  ? 

If  somebody  stole  something  on  you  and  the  policeman  does  not 
wish  to  help  you  get  it  back,  can  you  take  it  yourself! 

What  are  the  right  and  wrong  points  in  Socialism? 

Is  Prohibition  right? 

Are  labor  unions  bad? 

Has  the  state  a  right  to  punish  a  man  by  killing  him? 

Here  are  questions  which  ninth-  and  tenth-grade  pupils 

handed  in: 

Why  are  poor  officers  elected  by  such  large  majorities? 

Are  the  people  of  the  world  living  better  than  a  hundred  years 
ago? 

What  is  the  reason  for  religious  prejudice? 

What  are  the  rights  and  wrongs  of  the  railroad  strike? 

Should  people  be  allowed  to  inherit  full  property? 

What  should  you  do  when  you  have  to  tell  somebody  an  un¬ 
pleasant  truth? 

Why  do  coal  miners  dislike  people  who  try  to  make  agreements 
between  them  and  the  owners? 

How  should  we  deal  with  hasty-tempered  people? 

Is  it  good  for  children  to  be  sent  to  boarding-schools  away  from 
home? 

Is  it  true  that  some  people  are  constitutional  liars  or  thieves? 

Can  three  people  have  as  good  a  friendship  together  as  two 
people? 

Should  you  vote  for  yourself  in  a  class  election  ? 

What  should  we  do  when  our  parents  want  us  to  give  up  certain 
friends  ? 

How  should  we  treat  our  help,  especially  when  they  are  stupid  ? 

Is  it  right  for  a  child  to  argue  with  a  parent  when  he  knows  his 
point  is  the  right  one,  or  does  he  just  have  to  sit  back  and 
accept  the  parent’s  opinion  without  any  back-talk? 

Should  boys  and  girls  treat  each  other  familiarly  or  with 
reserve  ? 

Is  it  proper  for  a  young  man  to  go  with  a  girl  of  the  same  age 
to  a  show  in  the  evening  not  escorted  ? 

Is  it  vain  to  be  ambitious  for  your  own  career? 


228 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


Is  it  right  for  men  to  want  their  country  to  be  greater  than  others  ? 
Since  women  have  equal  rights  as  men  and  get  angry  when  called 
the  weaker  sex,  why  should  men  oiler  their  seats  to  a 
woman  in  a  car? 

Trivial  as  some  of  these  questions  may  seem  in  compari¬ 
son  with  others,  all  of  them  open  up  larger  questions  and 
especially  questions  of  fundamental  moral  importance.  It 
is  difficult  to  see  how  anyone  can  object  to  setting  aside  a 
period  a  week  for  reflection  upon  these  principles.  In  the 
pressure  of  the  many  claims  upon  the  school  time,  this  need 
is  quite  likely  to  be  crowded  out  of  sight. 

As  to  the  contention  that  ethics-teaching  should  not  be 
given  before  the  pupil  is  aware  of  a  conflict  between  his 
sanctions,  it  should  be  noted  that  in  the  elementary  grades 
where  such  instruction  is  offered,  for  instance,  in  the 
Ethical  Culture  School,  most  of  the  ethics  work  consists  in 
learning  about  excellent  lives  and  has  very  little  to  do  with 
conflicts  of  sanction.  In  the  second  place,  many  important 
conflicts  do  appear  before  the  pupil  reaches  college.  For 
example,  a  boy  brought  up  in  a  home  atmosphere  of  truth, 
refinement,  unselfishness,  finds  people  outside  untruthful, 
vulgar,  and  selfish.  The  standards  of  his  own  home  may 
be  considerably  higher  than  those  of  his  fellow  pupils.  How 
shall  he  comport  himself?  Shall  he  look  down  upon  these 
others,  shall  he  withdraw  from  their  company,  shall  he  ac¬ 
cept  their  standards?  The  problem  here  raised  is  a  very 
serious  one  indeed  for  boys  and  girls  long  before  college 
years.  It  raises  one  of  the  gravest  questions  a  democracy 
must  encounter:  how  shall  we  cultivate  right  relations 
among  unequals  ?  Back  of  the  following  question  on  which 
one  pupil  asked  for  light  there  was  a  real  difficulty  by  no 
means  confined  to  this  one  child’s  experience:  “If  you 
believe  you  are  in  the  right  but  others  misunderstand  you, 
are  you  to  act  according  to  your  own  judgment  or  as  you 
know  others  expect  you  to  act?” 


DIRECT  MORAL  INSTRUCTION 


229 


The  objection  is,  however,  pressed  by  the  Pragmatists 
that  in  the  long  run  it  is  best  for  our  children  to  get  what¬ 
ever  moral  ideas  they  need  through  the  performance  of 
their  own  activities.  How  valuable  such  activities  are,  we 
have  already  indicated  in  the  preceding  chapter.  Indeed, 
if  we  were  restricted  to  a  choice  between  the  formal  teach¬ 
ing  of  ethics  and  providing  occasions  for  the  doing  of 
deeds,  without  question  the  latter  would  be  the  wiser  alter¬ 
native.  But  where  is  it  written  that  our  choice  must  be 
thus  restricted  ?  Both  are  needed,  not  one  to  the  exclusion 
of  the  other. 

Moral  activities  do  not  comprise  the  whole  of  character¬ 
building.  As  we  have  tried  to  explain,  experiences  become 
fruitful  only  when  their  meaning  is  understood.  Our 
pupils  must  not  only  put  into  practice  all  that  we  can  get 
them  to  do,  but  they  must  be  acquainted  with  the  need  for 
ever  better  experiences  than  any  they  have  yet  undertaken. 
Character  requires  incessant  growth;  and  moral  growth  is 
a  problem  of  endlessly  reaching  out  after  experiences  of 
finer  and  higher  kinds.  Here  lies  the  great  field  for  direct 
teaching.  Its  essential  function  is  to  interpret  the  experi¬ 
ences  already  known  in  such  a  way  that  the  children  may 
he  stimulated  to  undertake  still  better.  They  need  stand¬ 
ards,  measures  of  value,  outlooks,  ideals — and  constantly 
higher  than  those  which  they  already  accept.  Of  course, 
we  must  not  overtax  their  powers  at  any  given  stage  of  de¬ 
velopment.  Ethical  wisdom  is  a  growth,  often  a  very  slow 
growth  indeed,  and  our  work  fails  badly  whenever  we  for¬ 
get  the  fact.  But  our  pupils  can  and  do  think  about  the 
right  and  wrong  of  conduct,  and  the  object  of  the  ethics 
lessons  is  to  take  such  thinking  where  we  find  it  and  help 
it  to  become  better  thinking. 

Moreover,  it  does  not  follow  that  ethical  suggestions  have 
no  value  unless  they  can  be  carried  into  effect  more  or  less 
immediately.  Those  who  put  the  entire  stress  upon  chil- 


230 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


dren’s  doing  things  seem  to  forget  how  many  a  splendid 
idea  can  be  stored  np  in  youth  against  the  time  when  op¬ 
portunity  arrives  to  practice  it.  It  is  admitted  that  young 
people  can  cherish  long-standing  grudges.  Is  it  true  that 
nobler  promptings  must  always  be  wasted  for  lack  of  in¬ 
stant  expression?  Elizabeth  Cady  Stanton  was  able  to  do 
her  pioneer  work  for  women ’s  rights  only  when  she  reached 
maturity ;  but  it  is  significant  that  her  resolve  to  undertake 
this  task  went  back  to  the  days  of  her  youth,  when  she 
heard  the  clients  in  her  father’s  law  office  recite  tales  of 
injustice  suffered  by  women. 

Furthermore,  if  we  trusted  only  to  the  project  method 
to  develop  character,  we  should  be  obliged  to  pass  by  many 
an  ethical  need  that  can  scarcely  be  met  by  the  perform¬ 
ance  of  projects,  especially  by  the  group  undertakings  to 
which  the  new  education  is  quite  properly  attracted.  An 
outstanding  moral  difficulty  is  the  strain  that  arises  be¬ 
tween  children  and  their  parents  when  the  former  grow 
away  from  their  earlier  uncritical  affection  and  admiration. 
No  reward  could  be  too  handsome  for  the  educational 
geniuses  who  would  show  us  how  to  minimize  this  strain 
by  a  series  of  activities.  But,  in  the  meantime,  would  it 
not  seem  that  something  can  be  done  by  interpreting  for 
young  people  the  reasons  for  the  tension,  and  trying  to 
have  them  understand  the  attitude  proper  to  sensible  young 
folks,  even  when  their  parents  are  so  painfully  uncongenial  ? 

Many  an  important  principle  is  overlooked  fintil  atten¬ 
tion  is  thus  specifically  directed  to  it.  Most  people  imagine 
that  we  can  do  wrong  only  to  people  who  are  as  spotless 
and  lovable  as  the  heroes  of  our  plays.  There  comes  a 
time  to  learn  the  vital  truth  that  we  have  duties  even  toward 
those  whom  we  have  found  by  no  means  perfect.  This  is 
a  principle  which  can  hardly  be  learned  by  the  performance 
of  either  group  or  individual  activities,  or  yet  by  an  ex¬ 
tended  series  of  the  best  of  formal  lessons.  Right  attitudes 


DIRECT  MORAL  INSTRUCTION 


231 


of  heart  and  mind  take  many  years  to  develop.  This,  how¬ 
ever,  is  no  reason  for  neglecting  to  use  every  resource  we 
can.  Not  every  right  attitude  can  be  created  by  the  project 
method.  Indeed,  many  of  them  would  seem  rather  to  grow 
out  of  such  quiet  and  unobserved  performances  as  the 
trains  of  thought  occasioned  by  reading  a  book  or  hearing 
some  specially  memorable  word  from  a  teacher. 

The  matter  of  the  children’s  interest  is  not  the  final  con¬ 
sideration.  Beneficial  as  is  the  assault  of  Professor  Dewey’s 
doctrine  of  interest  upon  lifeless  teaching,  it  is  far  from 
disposing  permanently  of  the  entire  educational  problem. 
Some  children  may  be  less  interested  than  others  in  prob¬ 
lems  that  are,  nevertheless,  of  great  importance  to  all  of 
them.  There  is  something  illuminating  in  these  comments, 
some  deprecatory,  others  favorable,  by  pupils  asked  to  set 
down  on  paper,  without  signing  their  names,  what  they 
thought  had  been  most  helpful,  and  what  least,  in  the 
year’s  ethics  course.  ‘^One  thing  was  as  bad  as  the  other,” 
wrote  one  pupil.  Another  said,  ‘‘There  ought  to  be  more 
snap  in  the  ethics  class.  ’  ’  Another :  ‘  ‘  Most  of  the  time  was 
wasted.”  Another:  “More  time  should  be  spent  consider¬ 
ing  practical  things  that  really  come  up  in  everyday  life 
instead  of  discussing  things  that  come  up  in  an  ideal  life.  ’  ’ 
“I  think  we  ought  to  spend  more  time  on  current  events.” 
On  the  other  hand,  there  were  those  who  mentioned  the 
following;  “The  discussions  have  broadened  me.”  “I  am 
glad  we  spoke  about  how  to  treat  a  friend.”  “I  liked 
most  the  talks  on  sportsmanship.”  “We  ought  to  spend 
more  time  on  problems  like  the  ones  we  took  up  about  for¬ 
eigners  and  negroes.”  “I  wish  we  could  have  had  more 
talks  about  the  different  customs  of  different  nations.” 
“The  current  events  were  the  most  interesting.”  “Prison 
reform.”  “The  parents’  point  of  view  on  subjects  on 
which  parents  and  children  disagree.”  “The  lessons  on 
self-respect  helped  me  most.”  “Why  a  person  must  be 


232 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


treated  differently  from  an  animal.”  “How  to  be  neigh¬ 
borly  to  all  types  of  people.”  “The  most  helpful  was 
about  pupils  dealing  with  one  another  and  with  the 
teacher.  ”  “  When  points  of  everyday  life  were  discussed.  ’  ’ 
“I  think  we  ought  to  spend  more  time  on  home  problems 
and  daily  troubles.” 

It  is  evident  from  these  illustrations  that  the  needs  of 
our  pupils  are  quite  varied.  They  come  from  homes  of 
different  backgrounds.  Problems  of  acute  interest  to  some 
are  meaningless  or  distasteful  to  others;  and  it  is  to  be 
regretted  that  any  pupils  at  all  must  sit  through  lessons 
on  topics  where  they  need  but  little  help  from  the  school. 
But  it  is  impossible  to  tell  beforehand  just  what  problem 
will  interest  all.  The  ethics  teacher  and  the  class  teacher 
should,  by  all  means,  try  to  find  out  what  are  the  questions 
about  which  the  young  people  care  greatly.  It  makes  all 
the  difference  in  the  world  when  the  problem  discussed 
comes  home  to  them  as  one  immediately  their  own.  One 
day  while  a  teacher  was  speaking  of  the  principle  under¬ 
lying  the  law  of  the  state  against  embezzlement,  he  men¬ 
tioned  the  case  of  a  committee  treasurer  in  a  settlement  club 
who  had  spent  the  club  dues  for  some  personal  want  of  his 
own,  although  with  the  thought  of  paying  the  money  back 
whenever  it  should  be  called  for.  Instantly  there  was  a 
noticeable  increase  of  attention,  and  from  the  glances  which 
the  pupils  exchanged  with  one  another,  and  in  the  direction 
of  one  of  their  number,  it  was  distressingly  apparent  that 
the  teacher’s  illustration  bore  directly  upon  a  real  situation 
in  that  class.  It  will  no  doubt  be  said  that  this  simply 
proves  the  point  that  there  should  be  no  ethics  lesson,  unless 
I  a  situation  has  arisen  that  requires  such  interpretation. 
But,  readily  as  we  grant  the  fact  that  the  interest  in  such 
cases  is  more  keen  than  it  would  otherwise  be  and  that  the 
teacher  should  try  to  know  the  actual  problems  confronting 
every  one  of  the  pupils,  it  does  not  follow  that  the  lessons 


DIRECT  MORAL  INSTRUCTION 


233 


should  be  dispensed  with  because  all  the  pupils  are  not 
always  at  one  in  their  degree  of  interest.  Indeed,  it  often 
happens  that  problems  in  which  pupils  ought  most  to  be 
interested  are  those  that  they  may  not  feel  in  the  mood  to 
consider.  This  is  a  challenge  rather  to  the  teacher’s  skill 
than  to  the  claim  of  ethical  instructions  as  such. 

The  root  fallacy  is  the  misconception  that  thought  must 
come  only  after  experience  and  never  before.  It  quite  for¬ 
gets  that  human  beings  grow  more  human  to  the  degree 
that  they  are  able  to  anticipate  experiences  and  thus  pro¬ 
duce  the  finer  kinds.  This  is  what  ideals  do  for  adults. 
In  this  respect  are  young  people  so  very  different  ? 

Surely  then,  when  all  is  said  and  done,  there  is  no  more 
fundamental  need  than  to  use  every  possible  chance — not 
one  kind  alone — to  cultivate  moral  thoughtfulness.  Think 
of  the  speed  at  which  we  live.  Think  of  the  thousand  and 
one  clamorous  and  misleading  appeals  made  by  modem 
city  life  to  our  young  people.  Sometimes  we  marvel  that, 
with  so  much  to  distract  them  from  the  pursuit  of  the 
quieter  and  better  modes  of  living,  they  turn  out  so  well. 
The  time  we  set  aside  for  reflection  upon  these  worthier 
things  is  not  wasted.  Little  as  the  results  would  seem  to 
justify  themselves  in  some  cases,  the  school  would  not  be 
living  up  to  its  obligation  if  it  did  not  make  provision  for 
steady,  regular  reflection  upon  the  things  of  highest  ex¬ 
cellence. 

In  some  circles  the  objection  is  raised  that  moral  teach¬ 
ing  has  no  value  except  as  it  is  consciously  linked  up  with 
religion.  Private  schools  are,  of  course,  free  to  relate  their 
teaching  to  this  or  that  religion  or  philosophy.  Public 
schools  are  not.  Must  they  therefore  desist  from  offering 
courses  in  moral  counsel!  The  question  goes  back  to  the 
misconception  behind  Professor  Palmer ’s  fear  that  teachers 
will  be  expounding  ultimate  sanctions.  The  answer  is  given 


234 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


by  experience  :  they  are  not  obliged  to  tread  upon  this  de¬ 
batable  ground.  When  school  principals,  for  example,  give 
a  series  of  talks  on  the  right  use  of  school  property,  or  on 
the  value  of  cooperation,  do  they  feel  obliged  to  go  into  the 
philosophic  or  religious  sanctions  and  say  that  their  words 
are  true  because  they  rest  upon  this  or  that  article  of  a 
creed  or  text  in  the  Bible?  They  know  that  they  cannot 
enter  into  religious  discussion  because  the  schools  are  sup¬ 
ported  by  a  population  of  widely  divergent  beliefs,  so  much 
at  variance  that  it  is  impossible  to  enunciate  a  doctrine 
which  will  not  give  offense  in  some  particular  to  some  one 
body  or  other.  The  city  superintendent  of  schools  in  New 
York  tried  to  get  a  body  of  the  clergy  of  different  denomi¬ 
nations  to  draw  up  a  code  of  moral  instruction  for  the  pub¬ 
lic  schools  of  his  community.  The  conference  came  to 
naught.  In  his  report  on  the  project.  Dr.  Maxwell  voiced 
the  conclusion  which  has  presented  itself  to  many  other 
students  of  the  problem  elsewhere :  ® 

In  view  of  this  fact  .  .  .  that  an  agreement  as  to  ethical 
instruction  has  not  been,  and  probably  will  not  be,  reached 
among  the  clergy,  ...  I  here  express  my  conviction  that 
educators  should  take  up  the  subject,  even  without  the  aid  of 
the  clergy,  and  formulate  large  rules  of  conduct  which  may  be 
illustrated  by  innumerable  particular  instances,  and  which  are 
so  well  founded  in  the  usages  of  civilized  communities,  and  so 
well  attested  in  the  lives  of  nohle  men  and  women,  that  no  one 
will  he  hold  enough  to  gainsay  their  validity. 

The  words  that  we  have  italicized  strike  bottom  as  far  as 
public  education  is  concerned :  there  is  an  undeniable  moral 
heritage  into  which  all  right-minded  people  alike,  no  mat¬ 
ter  what  their  religion,  wish  their  children  to  enter;  and 
into  this  common  heritage  our  public  schools  can  and  ought 
to  lead. 


9  Report  of  the  City  Superintendent  of  Schools  of  New  Yorkf  1908, 


DIRECT  MORAL  INSTRUCTION 


235 


The  unwillingness  of  the  schools  to  stir  up  religious  con¬ 
troversy  does  not  therefore  leave  them  helpless  before  their 
great  task  of  moral  guidance.  Religious  teaching  they  must 
perforce  leave  to  other  agencies ;  moral  education  they  may 
and  can  give,  and  effectively,  too.  Deficient  as  our  public 
system  may  be  in  many  respects,  it  is  also  true  that  its  best 
teachers  do  much  to  quicken  their  pupils’  lives  unto  good 
without  raising  the  issue  of  final  religious  sanctions.  Con¬ 
vinced  by  experiences  like  these,  the  advocates  of  moral 
instruction  are  simply  pleading  for  more  of  this  better 
practice.  They  are  encouraged  by  the  further  fact  that  the 
problem  of  ultimate  sanctions  is  rarely  brought  up  by  the 
children  themselves.  It  is  only  the  mature  mind  that  in¬ 
sists  upon  a  metaphysical  answer  to  its  inquiries;  young 
people  are  quite  content  with  secondary  explanations. 

Another  misconception  is  the  notion  that  moral  instruc¬ 
tion  consists  chiefly  of  a  preaching  of  bald  generalities  or 
repressive  ‘‘don’ts.”  A  school  principal,  addressing  an 
audience  of  teachers,  declared  that  he  saw  no  opportunity 
to  point  a  moral,  for  instance,  in  a  lesson  on  the  Spanish 
conquest  of  Mexico.  “Cortez  was  not  punished  for  his 
inhuman  treatment  of  the  Indians,”  he  said,  “and  we  do 
not  know  whether  he  was  punished  in  the  hereafter.”  If 
the  drawing  of  a  moral  from  a  punishment  were  all  there 
is  to  ethical  values  in  the  teaching  of  history,  one  might 
well  be  glad  to  see  all  such  attempts  ruthlessly  forbidden. 
A  moral  value,  however,  might  be  realized  in  the  lesson  on 
Cortez,  if  the  pupils  were  simply  made  to  hate  the  cruelty 
of  which  his  conduct  was  a  type  and  if  the  lesson  made 
clear  the  unfortunate  truth  that  people,  young  as  well  as 
old,  often  use  their  superior  powers  to  harm  those  who  are 
weaker.  The  best  treatment,  however,  would  leave  the 
young  people  conscious  of  a  nobler  way  of  using  such  gifts 
and  would  inspire  them  with  a  love  for  such  exemplars  of 
the  better  way  as  the  Puritan  Apostle  Eliot,  for  instance, 


236 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


who  employed  his  talents  to  make  life  better  for  the  Indians, 
not  worse.  This  is  something  quite  different  from  using, 
and  often  distorting,  facts  of  history  to  prove  that  good  is 
rewarded  and  evil  punished.  Moral  education  would  be 
richly  justified  if  it  did  no  more  than  to  realize  Plato’s 
ideal  of  a  ‘draining  in  respect  to  virtue  which  makes  one 
hate  what  he  ought  to  hate  and  love  what  he  ought  to  love.  ’  ’ 
Here  we  may  consider  the  charge  that  a  constant  offering 
of  ideal  characters  to  admire  and  a  constant  calling  for 
judgments  on  acts  of  conduct  do  harm  by  making  children 
priggish.  The  best  excellence,  it  is  declared,  is  that  which 
grows  unconsciously.  But  it  is  evidently  forgotten  that  a 
perfectly  unconscious  growth  is  a  goal  beyond  the  reach  of 
most  of  us.  There  would  never  be  any  need  of  a  word  of 
warning  or  of  a  reminder  that  there  are  better  ways  of 
behavior  than  our  customary  ones,  if  all  of  us  really  grew 
better  unwittingly,  if  we  really  imitated  spontaneously  the 
best  examples  around  us;  but,  unfortunately,  we  do  not. 
Somewhere,  at  some  time,  conduct  must  receive  a  certain 
degree  of  very  conscious  attention.  It  is  indeed  true  that 
this  attention  may  bring  with  it  a  sense  of  moral  self- 
satisfaction,  if  not  of  superiority,  but  this  possibility  need 
not  always  be  actualized.  Even  if  it  were  not  a  fact  that 
comrades  and  relatives  are  only  too  ready  to  shake  out 
whatever  moral  conceit  happens  to  be  generated,  there  is 
little  danger  of  its  being  fostered  to  any  alarming  extent 
when  the  teacher  goes  about  his  task  properly,  with  due 
tact  and  a  saving  sense  of  humor.  For  one  thing,  he  can 
teach  his  pupils  to  respect  different  moral  views  from  their 
own,  as  every  good  teacher  of  literature,  history,  and  geog¬ 
raphy  tries  to  do.  He  can  also  remind  them  of  how  easy 
duty  is  for  those  who  have  not  been  tempted  so  hard  as 
others.  Where  he  is  sure  that  priggishness  exists,  he  can 
readily  find  occasion  to  show  that  there  are  still  greater 
heights  of  moral  endeavor  to  be  climbed.  The  method,  in 


DIRECT  MORAL  INSTRUCTION 


237 


short,  is  in  most  respects  like  that  employed  to  prevent  or 
overcome  conceit  about  skill  in  drawing  or  composition 
or  athletics.  The  possibility  of  spiritual  pride  is  real  and 
serious,  but  it  ought  not  to  frighten  us  into  letting  things 
alone,  when  conditions  call  as  loudly  for  moral  betterment 
as  they  do  to-day. 

Another  misconception  is  due  to  a  popular,  but  neverthe¬ 
less  fallacious,  theory  of  character.  The  conscious  effort  of 
the  school  to  instil  high  principles  of  conduct  is  called  an 
idle  dream  on  the  ground  that  a  loftier  morality  cannot  be 
inculcated  there  than  is  practiced  in  the  life  outside.  Ac¬ 
cording  to  this  view,  the  attempt  to  make  school  pupils 
honest  is  doomed  to  failure  until  there  is  more  integrity, 
let  us  say,  in  the  world  of  business.  This  idea  is  based  on 
a  fundamental  misunderstanding  of  human  nature,  that 
character  is  something  which  is  inhaled  like  a  physical 
atmosphere.  Character,  however,  is  not  an  affair  of  purely 
passive  reaction  to  surrounding  influences.  It  is  a  mat¬ 
ter  of  strength  that  comes  from  victory  over  obstacles. 
These  obstacles  are  certain  tendencies  in  our  own  make-up 
that  prompt  to  evil  doing.  Wrong  exists  in  the  environ¬ 
ment,  but  only  because,  in  the  last  analysis,  human  beings 
commit  it  or  suffer  it  to  be.  The  same  traits  that  incline 
people  to  do  or  to  permit  the  bad  in  the  outer  world,  such 
as  vanity,  the  love  of  gain,  or  the  love  of  ease,  are  found  in 
the  nature  of  young  folks  in  the  school.  These  germs  must 
be  destroyed,  to  be  sure,  in  the  life  outside;  the  efforts  of 
the  school  must,  indeed,  be  backed  up  by  the  unceasing 
efforts  of  the  rest  of  the  community  to  drive  out  its  worst 
and  encourage  its  noblest;  but,  since  the  germs  of  evil  are 
lodged  also  in  the  individual  within  the  fold,  here  too  the 
bad  must  be  made  over  into  the  good.  The  social-determi¬ 
nation  view  of  human  improvement  is  as  one-sided  as  the 
old  idea  of  the  complete  spontaneity  of  the  moral  nature. 

Besides,  the  environment  outside  is  not  composed  exclu- 


238 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


sively  of  the  morally  inferior.  There  are  rogues  in  every 
calling,  but  honest  men  too  can  be  found.  In  every  occu¬ 
pation  there  are  high  grades  of  moral  development  which 
are  no  whit  less  real  than  the  low.  The  imitation  which 
plays  so  strong  a  part  in  character-building  should  be  di¬ 
rected  to  these  better  examples.  Furthermore,  if  the  social- 
determination  argument  is  sound,  the  schools  ought  not  to 
hold  up  any  standards  at  all  that  are  higher  than  those 
already  extant  in  the  environment.  In  courtesy,  in  neat¬ 
ness,  in  purity  of  speech,  the  tone  of  the  school  is  better 
than  that  of  life  in  many  homes  and  certainly  higher  than 
the  tone  of  the  street.  Children  are  ashamed  of  ridicule 
from  their  comrades  when  they  pronounce  the  ‘^u^’  prop¬ 
erly  in  “ student and  the  “h’^  in  “when,’’  yet  the  school 
would  call  itself  recreant  to  its  trust  if  it  did  not  at  least 
make  the  attempt  to  supply  correct  standards  of  speech. 
If  there  is  no  desire  for  better  things,  what  better  place  is 
there  to  try  to  create  it  than  the  school,  and  what  better 
time  than  the  years  when  the  worthier  influences  are  still 
possible?  If  this  is  true  of  a  secondary  value  like  good 
English,  how  far  more  urgent  is  the  need  with  respect  to 
the  primary  matter  of  the  moral  life ! 

The  objections  which  we  have  here  considered  serve  a 
very  useful  purpose.  They  warn  us  of  no  imaginary  dan¬ 
gers.  Perhaps  the  greatest  mistake  of  all  is  our  nation-wide 
tendency  to  put  our  trust  in  isolated  devices  and  quick 
remedies.  We  forget  too  often  that  character  is  of  the 
slowest  growth  and  of  the  most  complex  interplay  of  forces. 
With  an  all  too  easy  optimism,  some  of  us  are  inclined  to 
fancy  that,  just  as  the  teaching  of  spelling  in  the  school 
years  ought  presumably  to  insure  a  permanent  excellence 
in  spelling,  so  moral  training,  or  else  the  inspiration  of  good 
examples  in  history  and  literature,  or  set  lessons  upon  the 
various  duties — in  short,  some  single  happy  device,  will 
make  for  a  permanent  bettering  of  the  national  character. 


DIEECT  MORAL  INSTRUCTION 


239 


How  idle  is  this  hope!  No  ethical  instruction  alone  will 
see  to  it  that  every  legislator  of  the  future  spurns  a  prof¬ 
fered  bribe  or  that  ‘‘big  business”  scorns  to  offer  it.  The 
task  of  social  regeneration  is  far  too  vast  to  be  left  entirely 
to  the  schoolhouse.  In  like  manner,  the  share  in  this  task 
which  can  properly  be  demanded  of  the  school  is  too  com¬ 
plex  to  be  entrusted  to  any  single  one  of  the  agencies  within 
the  school.  Indeed,  special  care  must  be  exercised  to  see 
that  the  burden  of  moral  education — to  use  the  word  of 
wider  significance  than  instruction — is  not  shifted  to  the 
teacher  who  conducts  the  ethics  lessons.  Every  agency  in 
the  school, must  do  its  part. 

If  this  is  clear,  we  may  sum  up  the  case  for  moral  in¬ 
struction  by  stressing  these  considerations: 

1.  Our  pupils  need  constantly  better  standards  of  right 
life.  In  the  next  chapter  we  shall  try  to  show  what  can  be 
done  in  this  direction  by  utilizing  the  subjects  now  taught 
everywhere.  Here  we  wish  to  emphasize  the  value  in  the 
two  methods  frequently  referred  to  in  these  pages,  the  use 
of  stories  and  biographies,  and  the  discussion  of  principles. 

Matthew  Arnold  once  offered  young  students  the  sound 
advice  that  to  cultivate  their  appreciation  of  the  best  in 
poetic  beauty,  they  should  commit  to  memory  selected  pas¬ 
sages  from  the  greatest  poems  of  the  masters.^®  These  lines 
act  as  touchstones  by  which  one  can  judge  the  degree  of 
excellence  in  the  other  poems  that  he  reads ;  that  is,  a  mind 
which  is  saturated  with  the  peculiar  “feel”  of  the  highest 
specimens  is  enabled  to  say  in  the  presence  of  other  works, 
“This  has  the  ‘feel’  of  the  first-rate;  that  is  inferior  be¬ 
cause  it  lacks  the  grace  and  dignity  characteristic  of  the 
‘touchstone.’  ” 

In  something  of  this  fashion  great  personages  act  as 

10  See  “The  Study  of  Poetry”  in  Essays  in  Criticism,  first  series. 
Also  found  in  introduction  to  Vol.  I,  Ward’s  English  Poets. 


240  EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


standards.  To  appreciate  what  first-rate  lives  are  like,  we 
must  live  with  persons  of  that  quality.  Fortunate  are  those 
who  meet  such  beings  in  the  flesh!  At  any  rate,  however, 
the  school  can  make  them  real  to  its  young  people  through 
fostering  a  live  acquaintance  with  great  biographies.  Un¬ 
flinching  fidelity  to  truth  above  all  other  allegiances  means 
more  to  our  young  people  when  they  have  had  the  chance 
to  make  the  acquaintance  of  Sir  Thomas  More,  willing  to 
lose  honors,  estates,  life  itself,  sooner  than  twist  in  King 
Henryks  favor  the  law  which  it  was  his  duty  to  interpret 
honestly.  So,  too,  of  the  conduct  of  Socrates,  refusing  to 
escape  from  the  jail  when  the  law,  which  he  had  taught  his 
young  friends  to  obey,  descended  upon  him  unjustly :  “And 
now  that  this  thing  has  come  upon  me,  I  cannot  cast  away 
the  reasons  which  I  gave  in  former  time,  for  I  honor  and 
reverence  them  as  before.”  Such  standards  will  teach  our 
young  people  to  know  what  high  rectitude  means. 

A  similar  purpose  lies  back  of  the  discussion  of  concrete 
situations.  The  object  is  to  clarify  principles  and  especially 
to  get  the  young  people  to  apply  higher  standards  than 
they  already  recognize.  The  lad  who  cheats  is  obviously 
misled  by  a  false  scale  of  values.  Other  standards  whose 
falsity  is  not  quite  so  apparent  work  mischief  everywhere. 

Take,  for  instance,  the  matter  referred  to  in  Chapter  II, 
the  tendency  of  one  who  has  been  wronged  to  pass  on  to 
others  exactly  the  same  kind  of  treatment  when  he  himself 
is  on  top.  There  is  a  difference  between  resenting  an  injury 
to  oneseK  and  resenting  a  wrong  because  of  its  wrongness. 
Animals  are  capable  of  the  former.  It  is  only  men  who 
can  show  their  abhorrence  of  wrong  as  something  morally 
reprehensible  by  refusing  to  continue  the  chain  of  evil 
effects.  But  most  adults  as  yet  rarely  get  beyond  the  con¬ 
ception  of  Thrasymachus  in  Plato’s  Republic  “that,  when 
people  condemn  injustice,  they  do  so  because  they  are  afraid 
not  of  committing  it  but  of  suffering  it.  ’  ’  Our  pupils  should 


DIRECT  MORAL  INSTRUCTION 


241 


be  introduced  to  some  understanding  of  what  Emerson 
meant  by  saying,  ‘  ‘  Every  man  takes  care  that  his  neighbor 
does  not  hurt  him.  The  daj^  arrives  when  he  takes  care  not 
to  hurt  his  neighbor.  Then  all  goes  well  with  him.  He 
has  changed  his  market  cart  into  a  chariot  of  the  sun.^^ 
Man’s  duty  is  not  at  all  to  pass  his  experiences  on  but  to 
improve  upon  them. 

Reference  has  already  been  made  to  another  tendency 
which  is  specially  in  need  of  correction,  the  supposition  that 
we  are  somehow  absolved  from  obligations  to  people  when 
we  discover  them  to  be  uncongenial  or  deficient.^^  It  is 
curious  how  readily  we  can  be  misled  by  the  romantic  inter¬ 
pretation  of  life  offered  on  the  stage  and  in  novels  to  sup¬ 
pose  that  only  those  who  are  spotless  can  be  wronged.  In 
the  play  it  is  the  hero  who  is  wronged,  and  he  is  always 
without  fault.  Or  when  the  aged  father  and  mother  are 
unable  to  pay  the  mortgage  on  the  farm,  our  sympathy  for 
them  is  won  by  portraying  them  as  altogether  lovable.  In 
consequence,  it  becomes  a  bit  easier  in  real  life  to  reconcile 
oneself  to  unjust  treatment  of  aged  or  other  folks  who  are 
not  so  utterly  free  from  defect.  This  is  an  exceedingly 
grave  matter.  IIow  many  people,  for  instance,  feel  a  senti¬ 
mental  pity  for  oppressed  races  until  they  learn  that  these 
objects  of  their  sympathy  have  their  gross  failings!  “They 
are  a  dirty,  ignorant  lot  I  ”  It  does  not  follow  that,  because 
we  at  first  pity  people,  they  must  be  as  lovely  as  we  would 
like  to  think  them.  Yet  it  is  precisely  at  this  point  that 
duty  arises.  The  obligations  we  owe  to  our  fellow  beings 
are  owed  to  real  people,  not  to  stage  heroes.  In  spite  of  the  , 
shock  of  disillusion,  these  imperfect  persons  have  their  ideal 
natures,  and  the  task  of  honoring  this  better  self  is  no  less 
obligatory  when  the  beings  before  us  make  it  so  much 
harder.  Oppression  of  backward  peoples  is  wrong  in  spite 


11  See  p.  230. 


242 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


of  the  fact  that  they  are  so  glaringly  defective.  Nay,  it  is 
rather  because  they  are  backward  that  they  have  the  greater 
need  of  all  the  highest  influence  which  the  more  advantaged 
can  exercise. 

But  this  is  not  the  place  to  amplify  this  consideration. 
It  is  offered  to  illustrate  the  need  of  introducing  our  pupils 
to  thoroughgoing  ethical  standards,  and  standards  that  are 
as  valid  in  the  affairs  of  home  and  school  and  neighborhood 
as  they  are  in  business,  in  politics,  and  in  international 
affairs,  or  vice  versa, 

2.  With  the  standards  must  of  course  go  a  knowledge  of 
ways  to  meet  their  requirements.  Just  as  soon  as  we  can 
get  our  pupils  to  appreciate  the  fact,  they  should  learn  the 
ethical  justification  for  the  curriculum  and  the  whole  life 
of  their  school.  Civilization  has  arrived  at  certain  great 
conquests  for  man^s  good.  These  are  to  be  made  still  better. 
The  school  is  there  to  help  by  training  the  young  generation 
in  intelligent  and  eager  cooperation  in  this  pursuit.  It  is 
to  introduce  the  young  to  the  ends  and  to  the  instruments. 
And  what  a  difference  it  makes  when  teachers  and  pupils 
realize  what  this  means !  Would  not  our  teaching  of  mathe¬ 
matics,  of  science,  of  the  manual  arts,  and  of  everything  else 
take  on  more  vital  significance,  if  these  disciplines  were 
looked  upon  as  instruments  to  the  better  promoting  of  the 
mission  of  the  human  race? 

Of  immediate  use  to  our  pupils  in  this  regard  is  the  moral 
assistance  offered  by  psychology.  This  subject,  in  coopera¬ 
tion  with  the  study  of  hygiene,  can  certainly  help  them  to 
cultivate  strength  of  will.  It  is  an  aid,  for  instance,  to  be 
reminded  of  the  causes  that  make  us  go  wrong.  ‘  ‘  Following 
the  line  of  least  resistance  is  what  makes  many  rivers — and 
some  people — so  crooked.’’  It  is  well  to  know  that  the 
temptation  to  lie  may  be  traced  to  cowardice  or  to  lazy  de¬ 
sire  to  shirk  responsibility.  It  is  good  to  be  put  on  guard 
against  the  trick  our  mental  make-up  plays  upon  us  of 


DIRECT  MORAL  INSTRUCTION 


243 


giving  flattering  names  to  our  shortcomings.  We  call  our 
vanity  sensitiveness  and  our  obstinacy  firmness ;  we  neglect 
our  work  because  we  must  be  “sociable.”  We  save  our¬ 
selves  by  ‘  ‘  thinking  rightly.  ’  ’ 

There  is  every  value  in  thus  learning  ways  to  overcome 
weaknesses.  These  range  all  the  way  from  the  elementary 
“When  you  are  angry,  count  ten,”  to  the  help  in  such 
writings  as  the  chapter  on  “Habit”  in  James’  Psychology 
or  his  Talks  to  Teachers  and  Students,  or  works  like  Payot’s 
Education  of  the  Will,  or  to  the  wisdom  in  selected  sayings, 
for  example,  Stevenson’s:  “You  cannot  run  away  from  a 
weakness  forever ;  you  must  some  time  fight  it  out  or  perish ; 
and  if  that  be  so,  why  not  now  and  where  you  stand  ?  ’  ’  All 
this  help  applies,  of  course,  not  simply  to  avoiding  acts  of 
wrong.  The  stress  must  always  be  positive:  “Here  and 
here  are  the  ways  to  reach  the  strength  of  character  which 
at  heart  you  want.  ’  ’ 


12  “The  hackneyed  example  of  moral  deliberation  is  the  case  of 
an  habitual  drunkard  under  temptation.  He  has  made  a  resolve  to 
reform,  but  he  is  now  solicited  again  by  the  bottle.  His  moral  tri¬ 
umph  or  failure  literally  consists  in  his  finding  the  right  name  for 
the  case.  If  he  says  that  it  is  a  case  of  not  wasting  good  liquor 
already  poured  out,  or  a  case  of  not  being  churlish  and  unsociable 
when  in  the  midst  of  friends,  or  a  case  of  learning  something  at  last 
about  a  brand  of  whiskey  which  he  never  met  before,  or  a  case  of 
stimulating  himself  to  more  energetic  resolve  in  favor  of  abstinence 
than  any  he  has  ever  yet  made,  then  he  is  lost.  His  choice  of  the 
wrong  name  seals  his  doom.  But  if,  in  spite  of  all  the  plausible 
good  names  with  which  his  thirsty  fancy  so  copiously  furnishes  him, 
he  unwaveringly  clings  to  the  truer  bad  name,  and  apperceives  the 
case  as  that  of  ‘being  a  drunkard,’  ‘being  a  drunkard,’  ‘being  a. 
drunkard,’  his  feet  are  planted  on  the  road  to  salvation.  He  saves 
himself  by  thinking  rightly.”  William  James,  Talks  to  Teachers 
and  Students,  p.  187. 

13  Much  can  be  done  to  teach  adolescents  the  fallacies  in  the 
sentimentalisms  to  which  they  are  often  prone,  for  example,  “I’m 
all  right.  My  heart’s  in  the  right  place.”  Note  the  frequent  ten¬ 
dency  to  suppose  that  one  can  excuse  the  wrong  one  has  done  by 
giving  a  psychologic  description  of  oneself,  for  example,  “I  was 


244  EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


3.  From  all  this  it  follows  that  the  necessity  for  moral 
education  is  not  confined  to  delinquents  or  the  children  of 
the  poor.  Boys  and  girls  of  “respectable^’  homes  also  re¬ 
quire  it.  None  of  our  young  people,  whatever  their  par¬ 
entage,  are  so  perfect  that  there  is  no  need  of  suggesting 
better  effort  to  reach  standards  already  accepted  and  of 
holding  up  standards  still  higher.  Of  course,  the  ideals 
that  we  suggest  will  fail  to  possess  vital  meaning  unless  they 
go  with  a  genuine  desire  to  realize  them,  but  this  is  no 
reason  for  never  calling  attention  to  them.  Moral  instruc¬ 
tion  might  be  compared  to  an  attempt  to  increase  our  young 
people’s  circle  of  acquaintances  in  the  hope  that  thus  they 
will  be  more  likely  to  find  the  friends  whom  they  really 
want  to  cultivate.  It  is  not  by  any  means  the  poor  or  the 
criminal  classes  alone  who  need  such  an  opportunity. 

Nor  are  the  dangers  confronting  our  democracy  confined 
to  the  perils  of  illiteracy  or  of  violent  radicalism.  A  more 
persistent  menace  to  progress,  less  obvious,  and  therefore 
the  more  deadly,  is  the  fact  that  the  number  of  persons  in 
any  community  who  do  any  prolonged,  serious,  intelligent 
thinking  upon  fundamental  ethical  principles  is  certainly 
smaller  than  the  number  of  those  to  whom  life  is  a  game 
to  be  played  no  better  or  no  worse  than  everybody  else  plays 
it.  One  need  not  lose  his  faith  in  democracy  by  admitting 
how  huge  is  the  multitude  of  those  adults  who  are  more 
interested  in  the  baseball  score  than  they  are  in  the  vastly 
more  important  news  from  legislative  halls,  from  European 
councils,  from  disturbed  industrial  centers,  and  in  the  moral 
principles  there  involved.  But  it  is  precisely  for  this  reason 
that  we  see  again  the  need  for  our  schools  to  dedicate  them¬ 
selves  to  lifting  our  democracy  above  the  present  level. 
There  is  every  call  to  send  into  the  world  year  after  year 

tempted.”  See  Chapters  IV  and  V  in  Babbitt’s  Rousseau  and  Roman¬ 
ticism  for  the  mischief  in  supposing  that  we  can  dispense  with  nine- 
tenths  of  the  virtues  when  we  have  “sympathy.” 


DIRECT  MORAL  INSTRUCTION 


245 


graduates  who  have  been  introduced  to  higher  standards 
than  the  majorities  yet  accept,  and  who  have  begun  to  think, 
if  even  to  the  slightest  degree,  more  deeply,  more  steadily, 
and  more  wisely  on  ethical  issues  than  most  people  do  now. 
^‘Men  who  live  in  democratic  communities  not  only  seldom 
indulge  in  meditation,  but  they  naturally  entertain  very 
little  esteem  for  it.  ”  De  Tocqueville  may  have  been  right 
in  his  day.  But  there  is  no  reason  why  this  should  always 
be  true. 


Questions  and  Problems 

1.  Illustrate  from  your  own  experience  or  reading  some  act  of 
wrong  that  was  due  chiefly  to  the  failure  to  understand  its 
wrongness. 

2.  Would  you  say  that  Tito  in  Eliot’s  Eomola  did  wrong 
through  ignorance?  In  view  of  such  cases,  is  there  anything 
that  can  still  be  said  for  moral  instruction? 

3.  Mention  instances  in  the  life  of  to-day  where  a  new  con¬ 
science  is  being  generated  just  as  such  a  conscience  had  to 
be  created  about  slavery. 

4.  What  standards  were  employed  in  the  discussion  mentioned 
in  the  opening  paragraphs  of  Chapter  I?  How  common 
do  you  think  such  standards  are? 

5.  Read  “A  Question  of  Conduct”  in  the  Outlook  of  July  12, 
1913,  and  summarize  the  moral  standards  in  the  various 
answers. 

6.  Read  Irving  King’s  High  School  Age,  Chapters  V-IX,  on 
changes  in  outlook  in  adolescence,  and  discuss  the  moral 
and  educational  needs  thus  implied. 

7.  What  is  the  relation  between  good  manners  and  moral  intel¬ 
ligence  ? 

8.  In  answer  to  the  question,  ‘‘Can  virtue  be  taught?”,  Plato 
says  that,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  virtue  and  vice  are  being  taught 
everywhere  and  always.  Explain  and  illustrate  this  state¬ 
ment. 

9.  Describe  ethical  values  and  limitations  in  any  one  of  these 
customs:  fashions  in  dress,  chivalry,  a  patriotic  celebration. 


14  A.  C.  De  Tocqueville,  Democracy  in  America,  Vol.  II,  p.  43. 


246 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


10.  Mention  instances  where  people  fail  to  imitate  excellent 
models.  How  might  instruction  help  1  What  else  is  needed  1 

11.  Name  instances  where  moral  instruction  might  profitably 
anticipate  situations  likely  to  arise  in  later  years. 

12.  What  good  is  there  in  memorizing  proverbs?  What  cautions 
as  to  the  use  of  such  material  should  be  observed? 

13.  An  intelligent  and  well-ordered  goodness  requires,  not  a 
stifling  of  the  feelings,  but  their  right  direction.  Illustrate. 

14.  Show  how  the  ethical  aims  here  sketched  may  be  used  as  a 
means  of  correlating  the  various  school  studies  and  activities. 

References 

See,  besides  references  quoted  in  text: 

Adler,  Felix,  Moral  Instruction  of  Children. 

Cabot,  E.  L.,  Everyday  Ethics. 

Chubb,  Percival,  “Direct  Moral  Education”  (in  Religious  Educa¬ 
tion,  Vol.  VI). 

Drake,  Durant,  Problems  of  Conduct. 

Foerster,  F.  W.,  Jugendlehre. 

Gould,  F.  J.,  Moral  Instruction  in  Theory  and  Practice. 
Griggs,  E.  H.,  Moral  Education,  Ch.  XIX. 

Henderson,  E.  N.,  “Moral  Education”  (in  Monroe,  Cyclopedia 
of  Education). 

Hutchins,  W.  J.,  Children’s  Code  of  Morals. 

International  Moral  Education  Congress  Proceedings  (First, 
Second,  Third). 

“Iowa  Plan,”  Character  Education  Methods  (National  Institute 
for  Moral  Instruction). 

MacCunn,  John,  The  Making  of  Character,  Part  III. 

Mezes,  S.  E.,  Ethics,  Descriptive  and  Explanatory,  Part  III. 
Sadler,  M.  E.,  Moral  Instruction  and  Training  in  Schools. 
Sharp,  F.  C.,  Education  for  Character. 

Sneath,  E.  H.,  and  Hodges,  George,  Moral  Training  in  the 
School  and  Home. 

Sisson,  E.  0.,  “Moral  and  Religious  Education”  (Ch.  VIII  in 
Monroe,  Principles  of  Secondary  Education). 

Spiller,  Gustav,  Moral  Education  in  Eighteen  Countries. 
Tufts,  J.  H.,  The  Beal  Business  of  Living. 

For  graded  courses  of  study,  see  Gould,  Sharp,  Sneath 
and  Hodges,  and  “Course  in  Moral  Education,”  Ethical 
Culture  School,  New  York. 


CHAPTER  XIII 


MORAL  VALUES  IN  THE  VARIOUS  STUDIES 

There  are  many  schools  where,  for  one  reason  or  another, 
distinct  courses  in  moral  instruction  cannot  at  this  time  be 
introduced.  For  these  one  of  the  best  methods  of  encour¬ 
aging  moral  thoughtfulness  will  be  found  in  developing  the 
moral  values  in  the  subjects  at  present  studied.  And  even 
where  special  time  is  set  aside  for  ethics,  the  method  here 
suggested  can  also  be  employed  to  advantage.  The  topic  is 
broad  enough  to  call  for  all  the  contributions  of  the  entire 
teaching  staff. 

I.  Literature’- 

Literature  is  especially  rich  in  ethical  values.  The  reason 
is  simple.  Literature  deals  with  those  instances  of  human 
conduct  on  which  most  people  pass  judgments  of  approval 
or  blame,  and  it  does  this  with  a  beauty  which  heightens 
and  reinforces  whatever  truth  may  be  conveyed.  It  is  thus 
an  indispensable  aid  to  clarifying  the  moral  understanding 
and  to  touching  the  feelings. 

The  earliest  years  are  none  too  soon  to  begin  a  love  for 
the  best  we  can  supply.  “Tell  me  a  story”  gives  us  our 
first  chance  and  indeed  a  chance  continued  all  through  life. 
The  story  is  the  child ’s  introduction  to  a  world  bigger  than 
he  sees  with  his  eyes.  The  dwelling-place  of  bears,  wolves, 
dragons,  princesses,  and  fairies  is  outside  his  immediate 

1  Part  of  the  material  in  this  section  is  taken  from  a  pamphlet 
by  the  author,  “Teaching  American  Ideals  Through  Literature” 
(Government  Printing  Office,  Washington,  D.  C. ). 

247 


248 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


ken ;  and  by  thus  widening  the  range  of  his  imagery,  these 
beings  from  storyland  prepare  him  for  emancipation  from 
that  excessive,  thoughtless  concern  for  self  alone  which 
causes  more  moral  failures  than  downright  cruelty  ever 
does. 

The  story  touches  sympathies  that  a  bare  recital  of  facts 
would  leave  unmoved.  To  many  a  child  in  a  comfortable 
home,  “The  Nuremberg  Stove”  or  “A  Dog  of  Flanders” 
may  be  the  first  occasion  to  learn  that  there  are  children 
in  the  world  who  suffer  great  want.  The  story  suggests  all 
sorts  of  opportunities  for  excellent  practice.  It  tells  the 
child  that  he,  too,  can  be  self-reliant  with  Ulysses,  loyal 
with  Faithful  John,  chivalrous  with  Gareth,  forgiving  with 
Joseph  in  Egypt. 

If  we  select  only  stories  of  the  highest  rank  and  tell  them 
feelingly  enough,  often  there  is  little  more  that  need  be  done 
by  way  of  ethical  stimulation.  No  good  tale  should  be 
spoiled  by  insisting  that  its  “moral”  be  stated  explicitly. 
But  just  as  a  picture  that  we  enjoy  beholding  is  made  more 
enjoyable  when  some  detail  of  conception  or  composition 
which  we  might  else  have  overlooked  is  interpreted  for  us, 
so  a  word  or  two  of  ethical  suggestion  may  heighten  the 
appeal  of  a  story  already  loved  for  its  own  sake.  The  tale 
of  Ulysses’  wanderings  is  interesting  enough  just  as  it 
stands,  but  when,  for  instance,  we  tell  how  the  sailors  ship¬ 
wrecked  on  Circe’s  island  were  transformed  into  pigs,  the 
enjoyment  need  not  be  diminished  when  a  few  questions 
bring  out  the  fact  that  many  people,  children  included, 
sometimes  do  make  pigs  of  themselves.  In  the  Jataka  story 
of  the  Lost  Caravan,  the  children  are  eager  to  hear  how  the 
water  was  at  last  found,  and  they  do  not  resent  the  ques¬ 
tions  that  remind  them  how,  in  their  own  lives,  obstacles 
yield  to  persistent  attack.  It  is  certainly  an  additional  gain 
when  a  story  already  welcomed  widens  one ’s  understanding 
of  life. 


VALUES  IN  LITERATURE 


249 


This  is  true  of  literary  study  of  all  kinds  and  for  all 
years,  and  it  indicates  to  the  teacher  the  leading  principle 
of  selection  and  treatment.  Whatever  else  a  literary  work 
may  be,  it  is  essentially  an  attempt  to  offer,  in  a  setting 
whose  beauty  is  a  joy,  an  interpretation  of  life.  Shake¬ 
speare  never  intended  his  plays  to  serve  as  material  for 
school  examinations.  He  tried  to  interest  his  audiences  in 
the  attempt  of  a  Brutus,  a  Macbeth,  a  Hamlet,  to  work  out 
certain  big  life  problems,  and  he  outdid  his  fellow  drama¬ 
tists  because  he  accomplished  this  task  with  keener  insight 
and  greater  artistic  skill.  The  cue  for  the  teacher,  there¬ 
fore,  is  to  help  his  pupils  think  more  soundly  upon  the  aims 
of  life  because  of  the  truths  that  the  author  has  made  more 
strikingly  clear.  This  is  not  at  all  to  rob  young  people  of 
due  enjoyment.  On  the  contrary,  we  repeat,  their  delight 
in  a  work  of  beauty  is  increased  when  they  appreciate  how 
truthful  its  interpretation  is. 

Of  the  many  ethical  services  performed  by  great  litera¬ 
ture,  there  is  first  the  chance  already  mentioned  to  broaden 
and  deepen  insight  into  other  people’s  lives  by  sharing  their 
experiences.  Reference  has  also  been  made  to  the  need  for 
various  types  in  our  country  to  understand  each  other  bet¬ 
ter  than  they  do.  Here  we  shall  find  literature  an  incom¬ 
parable  help.  Pupils  in  the  North  should  know  more  than 
they  do  about  the  work  of  Poe  and  Lanier,  of  Cable  and 
Harris,  of  Page  and  Allen,  besides  merely  remembering 
that  Patrick  Henry,  Washington,  Jefferson,  and  Madison 
were  Virginians.  One  of  the  best  studies  of  an  American 
gentleman  is  Robert  E.  Lee,  American,  by  Gamaliel  Brad¬ 
ford,  a  portrayal  all  the  more  deserving  of  our  pupils’ 
attention  for  being  the  appreciative  work  of  a  Northerner. 
Paul  Hamilton  Hayne’s  sonnet  to  Henry  Wadsworth  Long¬ 
fellow  is  a  tribute  in  the  other  direction.  East  and  West 
meet  in  Mark  Twain.  Joaquin  Miller’s  Autobiography  in 
the  Bear  Edition  of  his  poems  gives  an  excellent  picture  of 


250  EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


life  in  the  West.  For  understanding  the  hard  life  of  the 
Middle-Western  farmer,  which  has  led  to  so  many  misunder¬ 
stood  and  easily  ridiculed  radicalisms,  Hamlin  Garland’s 
Son  of  the  Middle  Border  is  recommended,  and,  in  his  Main 
Traveled  Roads,  the  two  stories,  “Up  the  Cooley”  and 
“Under  the  Lion’s  Paw.” 

Religious  differences  present  few  grave  difficulties  to-day, 
and  the  great  majority  of  our  people  would  vote  that  our 
traditional  policy  of  keeping  our  public  schools  unsectarian 
has  been  the  best.  But  everything  we  can  do  to  supple¬ 
ment  this  policy  by  fostering  in  all  our  citizens  a  positive 
appreciation  of  those  whose  faith  is  different  from  their 
own  is  worth  trying.  The  study  of  ^  ‘  Evangeline,  ’  ’  for  ex¬ 
ample,  should  direct  attention  to  Longfellow’s  hearty  ad¬ 
miration  for  a  Catholic  community.  A  descendant  of  the 
Puritans,  he  showed  the  best  kind  of  democracy  in  portray¬ 
ing  the  life  of  a  Catholic  village  with  such  fine  feeling  for 
its  beauty.  He  did  the  same  thing  in  his  translation  of 
Dante,  his  sonnets  “The  Divina  Commedia, ”  and  his  “Lad¬ 
der  of  St.  Augustine.” 

America  will  be  the  better  for  having  her  widely  varying 
children  not  simply  tolerate  differences,  but  respect  them 
with  an  eye  ever  open  to  divergent  excellences.  It  is  notable 
that  children  of  Jewish  parents,  particularly  from  Poland 
or  other  lands  where  persecution  has  been  extreme,  learn 
from  the  conduct  of  American  teachers,  more  perhaps  than 
in  any  other  way,  how  utterly  un-Christian  is  the  spirit  of 
bigotry  and  prejudice.  The  Russian  child  who  has  heard 
from  his  father  and  mother,  or  seen  for  himself,  as  some 
have  done,  how  Christians  in  the  old  country  celebrated 
Christmas  and  Easter  by  massacring  Jews,  can  thank  the 
American  public  school  for  teaching  him  something  better 
about  the  religion  he  once  had  ample  reason  to  fear.  The 
study  of  The  Merchant  of  Venice  offers  such  an  opportunity 
when  rightly  pursued.  The  teacher  who  has  read  the  com- 


VALUES  IN  LITERATURE 


251 


mentaries  of  Verplanck  and  Hudson  will  wish,  his  class  to 
see  how  both  the  Christian  characters  and  Shylock  are  de¬ 
based  by  the  spirit  of  persecution.  Antonio,  the  gentleman, 
becomes  much  less  the  gentleman  by  his  treatment  of  the 
Jew,  whereas  the  latter  is  goaded  by  his  injuries  to  inhuman 
revenge. 

Literature  can  also  help  to  overcome  national  provin¬ 
cialism.  Americans  should  be  specially  able  to  appreciate 
the  British  character  from  their  love  of  British  literature. 
To  recognize  the  indebtedness  of  our  writers  to  those  of  the 
mother  country  is  another  opportunity.  Our  literary  speech 
has  been  molded  by  the  English  of  the  King  James  Bible. 
Until  our  country  produced  its  own  literature,  it  knew,  be¬ 
sides  the  Bible  and  the  Greek  and  Roman  classics,  only  the 
literature  of  Great  Britain.  The  debt  should  be  remem¬ 
bered.  For  instance,  Whittier’s  “Snowbound”  might  be 
compared  with  Burns’s  “Cotter’s  Saturday  Night,”  and 
'  Lowell’s  “Dandelion”  with  “To  a  Mountain  Daisy.” 
Lowell’s  tribute  to  the  plowman  poet  in  his  “Incident  in  a 
Railroad  Car,”  and  Whittier’s  in  his  poem  “Burns,”  de¬ 
serve  to  be  noted.  Where,  if  not  in  American  schools, 
should  “A  Man’s  a  Man  for  a’  That”  be  committed  to 
memory  ? 

Edmund  Burke’s  Speech  on  Conciliation  with  the  Amer¬ 
ican  Colonies  repays  the  careful  study  it  receives  in  many 
high  schools.  It  is  good  for  our  pupils  to  know  the  man 
himself,  to  admire  him  for  his  fight  to  drive  out  the  rotten- 
borough  system,  to  abolish  imprisonment  for  debt,  to  pre¬ 
vent  oppression  of  the  natives  in  India  by  colonial  admin¬ 
istrators  (as  they  read  in  Macaulay’s  Warren  Hastings), 
and  especially  for  the  breadth  of  mind  that  made  him  study 
the  American  colonies  in  order  to  interpret  them  aright  to 
his  fellow-statesmen.  His  speech  will  help  our  pupils  to 
understand  the  American  spirit  in  the  light  of  one  line  of 
its  ancestry.  His  arguments  against  the  use  of  force  still 


252 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


hold  good  against  the  policy  of  conquest.  The  solid  good 
sense  in  these  arguments,  as  well  as  his  eloquent  reminder 
that  the  deepest  ties  among  peoples,  “links  which  light  as 
air  are  strong  as  iron,”  are  ties  of  respect  and  affection, 
should  he  as  familiar  as  anything  in  our  native  literature. 

A  genuine  pride  in  our.  own  achievements  need  not  suffer 
if  we  direct  our  pupils  ’  attention  in  this  way  to  what  writers 
in  other  lands  have  done.  No  American  will  care  less  for 
“The  Vision  of  Sir  Launfal”  for  knowing  how  Victor 
Hugo  taught  much  the  same  ideal  in  Les  Miserahles  and 
The  Hunchback  of  Notre  Dame. 

Let  it  be  borne  in  mind,  however,  that  the  greatest  broad¬ 
ening  comes  when  literature  helps  us  to  understand  those 
who  are  markedly  different  from  ourselves.  Not  Anglo- 
Saxons  nor  Europeans  alone  must  be  understood.  Let  the 
muses  acquaint  our  youth  with  at  least  something  of  the 
inner  life  of  the  East.  Pupils  who  know  anything  of  the 
writings  of  Tagore,  Hearn’s  books  on  Japan,  G.  L.  Dick¬ 
inson’s  Letters  of  a  Chinese  Official  and  Appearances, 
Cooper’s  My  Lady  of  the  Chinese  Court-Yard,  Brown’s  The 
Wisdom  of  the  Chinese,  Wu  Ting  Fang’s  America  through 
the  Spectacles  of  an  Oriental  Diplomatist,  Yoshio  Markino’s 
When  1  Was  a  Child,  will  be  a  little  less  supercilious  toward 
the  Oriental  peoples  whose  growing  contact  with  the  West 
is  bringing  forward  some  of  the  gravest  problems  of  the  age. 

Other  services  offered  by  literature  will  be  apparent  when 
we  turn  to  the  following  considerations  of  method. 

Caution  must  be  repeated  against  supposing  that  the  lit¬ 
erature  period  is  to  be  given  solely  to  discussion  of  moral 
questions. 

Poor  literature  is  to  be  ruled  out  always.  No  excuse  that 
it  points  a  moral  will  justify  selecting  a  story  or  poem 
whose  literary  quality  is  inferior.  There  is  abundant  ethi¬ 
cal  value  in  the  great  works,  and  not  because  they  preach 


VALUES  IN  LITERATURE 


253 


sermons,  but  because,  as  we  have  seen,  they  portray  life 
truly. 

Pupils  must  enjoy  what  they  read.  The  characters  may 
be  never  so  admirable,  the  sentiments  never  so  exalted ;  but 
unless  the  pupils  are  really  stirred,  whatever  moral  stimu¬ 
lus  the  poem  or  story  can  afford  will  fail  of  its  object.  To 
affect  their  lives,  the  high  behaviors  with  which  literature 
deals  must  genuinely  be  admired  and  the  low  ones  be  con¬ 
demned  by  the  young  people  themselves.  Therefore,  it  is 
of  prime  importance  that  what  the  pupils  discuss  be  first 
enjoyed  in  the  spirit  that  sends  the  teacher  himself  to  the 
theater  or  to  a  novel  by  a  favorite  author  for  an  evening’s 
recreation.  One  of  the  surest  means  to  this  object  is  to 
introduce  a  new  work  by  the  most  expressive  reading  of 
which  the  interpreter  is  capable.  Just  as  the  good  song 
needs  to  be  sung,  not  merely  recited,  so  the  great  poem  or 
speech,  to  convey  its  full  message,  needs  to  be  heard.  Let 
the  teacher  do  justice  to  his  subject  by  reading  aloud,  if 
only  the  passages  he  most  admires,  simply,  sincerely,  and 
without  any  misgivings  about  showing  his  enthusiasm.  Or, 
let  the  work  be  introduced  in  this  way  by  a  pupil  who  cares 
enough  for  it  to  want  the  others  to  enjoy  it. 

Another  need  is  no  less  important.  Avoid  as  the  unpar¬ 
donable  sin  the  temptation  to  club  the  heads  of  pupils  with 
the  question:  “What  does  this  poem  teach?”  Especially 
beware  of  the  lamentable  obsession  haunting  so  many  a 
classroom  that  the  most  effective  “teaching”  a  poem  can 
do  is  to  scare  young  people  by  a  picture  of  punishment. 
Pity  that  it  needs  to  be  said  at  all,  but  the  ‘  ‘  lesson  ’  ’  of  the 
“Rime  of  the  Ancient  Mariner”  is  certainly  not  that  if 
you  shoot  an  albatross,  your  ship  is  going  to  be  becalmed, 
your  mates  struck  dead,  and  your  throat  parched  for  days. 
Rather  let  the  teacher  first  ask  himself,  not  his  pupils,  ‘  ‘  Is 
the  underlying  thought  of  this  poem  true?  What  light 
does  it  throw  on  the  aims  of  human  life  and  the  workings 


254 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


of  human  conduct?  How  does  it  clarify  one’s  sense  of  the 
ideal  life  ?  ’  ’  Thus,  the  instructor  sees  that  when  Coleridge 
wrote  his  ballad,  he  was  telling  us,  in  the  setting  of  a 
medieval  legend,  that  we  can  pray  more  sincerely  after  we 
have  done  an  act  of  love  than  before.  The  mariner  is  so 
impressed  with  this  truth  burned  in  upon  him  in  his  soli¬ 
tude  that  he  must  tell  all  who  are  fond  of  company  how  to 
use  the  blessing  of  companionship.  Tolstoi’s  Master  and 
Man  conveys  something  of  the  same  idea. 

When  the  teacher  has  thus  settled  for  himself  how  the 
book  can  enrich  his  pupil’s  sense  of  life’s  excellences,  the 
further  procedure  is  a  very  simple  affair,  a  matter  of  ques¬ 
tioning  designed  to  lift  the  underlying  truth  into  clearer 
relief,  especially  by  applying  it  to  the  pupils’  own  experi¬ 
ences.  Sometimes  it  may  require  only  the  slightest  ques¬ 
tion  or  two  to  bring  out  the  fact  that  Lars  Porsena’s  wish 
for  Horatius  to  reach  the  shore  and  Sextus’  desire  for  him 
to  drown  are  characteristic  everywhere  and  always  of  brave 
and  cowardly  foes  respectively.  Sometimes  the  teacher’s 
help  consists  in  asking : 

Do  you  know  people  who  take  Ralph  the  Rover’s  cruel  delight 
in  doing  harm  and  the  Abbot’s  joy  in  service? 

Why  does  Calpurnia  want  to  keep  Ca0sar  safe  by  sending  a  lie  to 
the  Senate;  and  why  does  Csesar  object? 

What  types  of  people  resort  to  falsehoods  ? 

Why  do  we  admire  Brutus  in  his  failure  more  than  Mark  Antony 
in  his  success  ? 

Would  you  call  the  play  pessimistic  because  the  better  man  is 
defeated  ? 

Why  does  Shakespeare  say: 

The  instruments  of  darkness  tell  us  truths, 

Win  us  with  honest  trifles,  to  betray  us 
In  deepest  consequence? 

Such  questions  quite  miss  their  mark,  of  course,  if  the 
answers  do  not  suggest  illustrations  from  the  lives  with 
which  our  pupils  are  best  acquainted. 


VALUES  IN  LITERATURE 


255 


Here  is  a  specimen  of  the  more  extended  questioning 
sometimes  needed:  In  teaching  ‘‘The  Vision  of  Sir  Laun- 
fal,”  some  such  questions  as  the  following  might  be  asked 
to  bring  out  the  truth  that  democracy  respects  the  hidden 
worth  in  men: 

Why  did  the  leper  refuse  the  coin? 

Why  did  Sir  Launfal  toss  it  in  scorn? 

Why  is  it  inaccurate  to  say  that  he  gave  ‘from  a  sense  of  duty’? 
What  would  a  genuine  sense  of  duty  require? 

Why  did  the  knight  shirk  this  real  duty? 

Can  you  mention  any  instances  where  people  offer  a  substitute 
(that  is,  toss  a  coin)  instead  of  doing  the  harder  thing? 
What  was  Lowell’s  purpose  in  revealing  the  divinity  of  the 
beggar? 

Why  did  he  make  him  not  only  a  beggar  but  the  victim  of  a 
loathsome  disease? 

Go  back  to  the  line,  ‘Daily  we  Sinais  climb  and  know  it  not’; 
what  does  the  reference  mean? 

Why  was  the  knight  at  first  unaware  of  who  it  was  that  he  was 
facing? 

Does  this  poem  tell  you  anything  about  democratic  ideals? 

How  does  democracy  express  this  honor  to  the  sacredness  in  men? 
Read  Lowell’s  poem,  “A  Contrast,”  and  the  essay,  “Democracy,” 
and  compare  the  ideas  with  the  one  in  this  poem. 

Read  also  Emerson’s  poem,  “Music,”  Whittier’s  “Democracy.” 
Read  and  discuss  “Exit  Charity”  in  Zona  Gale’s  Neighborhood 
Stories. 

Another  line  of  approach  to  ethical  considerations  is  to 
try  to  get  at  the  man  behind  the  writings  and  then  consult 
his  biography,  his  letters,  and  other  material  for  further 
light.  This  is  character  study  of  a  specially  helpful  kind, 
when  it  brings  out  traits  to  admire  and  also,  in  the  case  of 
older  pupils,  aids  them  to  distinguish  degrees  of  merit.  Let 
them  compare  values  in  various  writings  and  incidentally 
be  reminded  that  people  themselves  exhibit  this  mixture  of 
poor  and  better  in  their  personal  quality.  They  will  admire 
Wordsworth’s  better  work  the  more  when  they  contrast  it 


256 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


with  the  work  in  which  he  did  not  do  himself  justice;  and 
the  exercise  will  be  of  no  little  further  service,  if  it  helps 
them  to  apply  similar  standards  to  their  judgments  of  real 
persons — to  know,  that  is,  that  people  have  their  pitiful 
commonplaceness,  but  that  a  fine  nature  will  try,  as  Words¬ 
worth  did  at  his  best,  to  see  the  glory  latent  even  in  these. 
Indeed,  it  is  especially  helpful  to  dwell  with  adolescents  on 
the  experiences  recorded  in  the  Tintern  Abbey  poem,  and 
in  “The  Prelude’^ — Wordsworth^s  eager  enthusiasm  for  the 
French  Revolution,  his  disillusion  on  learning  what  his 
idols  were  like,  his  sobered  loves,  and  the  final  gain  in 
learning 

To  look  on  nature  not  as  in  the  hour 

Of  thoughtless  youth  but  hearing  often  times 

The  still  sad  music  of  humanity. 

There  is  a  fruitful  suggestion  here  as  to  ways  in  which 
youth  can  treat  its  own  experiences  of  disillusion  with  re¬ 
gard  to  parents  and  other  people. 

Other  special  help  for  adolescents  is  found  in  a  study  of 
the  rebellious  temperament  as  illustrated  in  Shelley  and 
Byron.  We  want  them  to  know  the  passion  for  liberty — 
the  world  would  be  infinitely  poorer  if  youth  were  less  in¬ 
clined  to  its  protests — ^but  we  want  this  spirit  to  be  purged, 
as  far  as  we  can  help,  of  its  unhealthier  manifestations.  It 
is  good,  for  instance,  to  contrast  Shelley  and  Byron  at  their 
best  with  the  sentimentalism  of  their  “nobody-loves-me^^ 
attitudes.  Occasionally  the  pupils  will  squirm  as  they  rec¬ 
ognize  the  portraits,  but  the  exercise  is  good  fun,  and  occa¬ 
sionally  it  may  quicken  a  useful  train  of  thought. 

Humor  in  the  school  needs  no  apology.  The  contribution 
of  laughter  to  health  of  soul  is  beyond  all  question.  The 
task  of  the  teacher  is  to  refine  the  sense  of  humor  by  culti¬ 
vating  taste  for  fun  of  the  cleaner,  kindlier,  subtler  sorts. 
Mark  Twain  helps  us  to  see  the  connection  between  the 


VALUES  IN  LITERATURE 


257 


best  humor  and  fundamental  qualities  of  character.  There 
is  a  type  of  wit  that  is  intellectually  brilliant,  but  is  in¬ 
tended  to  sting;  but  when  we  think  of  the  affection  that 
goes  out  to  our  greatest  humorist,  we  see  the  aptness  in 
William  Dean  Howells ’s  characterization  of  him  as  “the 
Lincoln  of  our  literature.’^  What  attracts  us  in  Mark 
Twain  is  not  intellectual  acuteness,  but  warmth  of  heart,  a 
broad  and  deep  human  sympathy  that  makes  a  laugh  with 
him  a  spiritual  tonic.  There  is  an  important  difference 
between  the  laugh  that  says :  ‘  ‘  How  ridiculous  these  other 
people  are,”  and  the  democratic  sort  which  says:  “What  a 
funny  thing  human  nature  is,  our  own  included !  ’  ’ 

The  feeling  for  this  better  kind  of  humor  should  receive 
every  encouragement  in  the  classroom.  It  is  no  longer 
necessary  to  say  that  particularly  in  the  making  of  a  young 
life  fun  has  its  great  place.  The  chief  need  is  to  rid  the 
sense  of  humor  of  its  coarser  associations,  to  refine  and 
sweeten  it.  The  teacher  can  do  much  by  showing  how  inter¬ 
related  is  the  best  humor  with  breadth  and  ardor  of  sym¬ 
pathy.  The  author  of  Tom  Sawyer  also  wrote  the  Personal 
Recollections  of  Joan  of  Arc  and  was  a  sturdy  champion 
of  many  an  appeal  for  justice. 

Finally,  it  is  important  for  our  boys  and  girls  to  care  for 
their  country ’s  tongue  at  its  best.  Good  reading  aloud  will 
do  much  to  foster  such  affection.  The  French  make  a  point 
of  teaching  their  children  French  ideals  by  special  atten¬ 
tion  to  beauty  in  their  written  and  spoken  discourse.  We 
can  profit  by  their  example,  for  there  is  a  subtle  connection 
between  the  idealisms  of  a  country  and  the  language  in 
which  these  are  voiced.  Note  how  the  words  of  the  least 
cultivated  persons  are  lifted  above  the  commonplace  and 
take  on  a  simple  beauty  the  moment  people  give  expression 
to  the  best  that  is  in  them.  The  “Gettysburg  Address”  is 
our  classic  instance  of  how  dignity  of  thought  and  of  phrase 
reinforce  each  other.  Let  us  do  all  we  can,  and  by  no 


258 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


means  only  in  the  neighborhoods  of  the  foreign-born,  to 
cultivate  a  feeling  for  something  better  than  the  usual  slip¬ 
shod  speech  and  slang.  Language  is  a  manner ;  as  in  cour¬ 
tesy,  a  fine  usage  betokens  the  greater  respect.  Not  that  it 
is  necessary — fortunately  it  is  impossible — that  children 
should  learn  to  talk  like  books.  But  it  is  eminently  desir¬ 
able  that  they  should  learn  by  example  how  beautiful  a 
medium  the  tongue  of  their  country  can  become.  Even 
though  their  conversation  and  their  letters  may  never  sound 
like  Irving’s  or  Hawthorne’s,  it  is  good  for  them  to  learn  by 
this  method  among  others  that  democratic  freedom  need 
not  connote  cheapness  and  vulgarity. 

Questions  and  Problems 

1.  What  is  the  objection  to  adding  a  moral  tag  to  a  good  story? 

2.  Examine  the  poems  or  stories  that  you  teach.  Which  of  them 
have  such  tags? 

3.  Taking  King  Lear  as  a  text,  show  that  the  ethical  value  of 
a  great  work  does  not  depend  upon  the  happy  ending  where 
virtue  triumphs. 

4.  When  an  author  has  no  specific  moral  purpose,  for  example, 
Poe  in  ^‘The  Bells”  or  Keats  in  ^^Ode  to  a  Nightingale,”  should 
his  work  be  studied  in  school?  Give  reasons. 

5.  Explain  why  personages  in  great  literature  are  sometimes 
closer  to  us  than  people  whom  we  actually  meet.  How  can 
this  fact  be  made  to  contribute  to  moral  growth? 

6.  Read  Sidney  Lanier’s  The  English  Novel.  Wkat  ethical  sug¬ 
gestions  are  there  in  the  fact  that  modern  literature,  unlike 
the  ancient,  concerns  itself  with  the  lives  of  common  people? 

7.  Comment  on  the  statement  of  Lowell:  ^Tt  is  only  through 
[literature]  this  record  of  man’s  joys  and  sorrows,  of  his 
aspirations  and  failures  .  .  .  that  we  can  become  complete 
men,  and  learn  both  what  he  is  and  what  he  may  be,  for  it 
is  the  unconscious  biography  of  mankind.” 

References 

Adler,  Felix,  The  Moral  Instruction  of  Children. 

Arnold,  Matthew,  The  Study  of  Poetry;  The  Function  of 
Criticism. 


VALUES  IN  COMPOSITION 


259 


Bryant,  S.  C.,  How  to  Tell  Stories  to  Children. 

Carlyle,  Thomas,  “The  Hero  in  Poetry”  in  Heroes  and  Hero 
Worship. 

Chubb,  Percival,  The  Teaching  of  English. 

Colby,  J.  R.,  Literature  and  Life  in  School. 

Cox,  J.  H.,  Literature  in  the  Common  Schools. 

Griggs,  E.  H.,  Moral  Education,  Ch.  XXI,  XXII,  XXIII. 

Hosic,  J.  F.,  “Reorganization  of  English  in  Secondary  Schools” 
(Government  Printing  Office). 

Klapper,  Paul,  The  Teaching  of  English. 

Lowell,  J.  R.,  Books  and  Libraries. 

Lyman,  Edna,  Story-Telling. 

McClintock,  P.  L.,  Literature  in  the  Elementary  Schools. 
Ruskin,  John,  Sesame  and  Lilies. 

St.  John,  E.  P.,  Stories  and  Story-Telling. 

Thomas,  C.  S.,  The  Teaching  of  English  in  the  Secondary  Schoot 

II.  Composition 

The  chief  aim  of  composition  work  is  the  efficient  impart¬ 
ing  of  ideas  to  others.  Hence,  it  is  necessary  first  to  be 
honest  with  one^s  self,  to  realize  the  gaps  in  one^s  own  in¬ 
formation  and  the  need  of  further  study  to  acquire  the 
necessary  knowledge.  Consciousness  of  one’s  own  igno¬ 
rance  and  an  open  mind  are  essentials  of  character  no  less 
than  of  ability  to  write  or  speak  effectively.  Success  in 
composition  work  also  requires  the  pupil  to  take  the  point 
of  view  of  others.  To  impart  truth,  he  needs  that  training 
in  imagination  which  will  enable  him  first  to  see  how  these 
other  people  look  at  things. 

Much  can  be  done  through  themes  that  especially  chal¬ 
lenge  ethical  thinking.  For  example,  compositions  on  “The 
Most  Disagreeable  Occupation  I  Know”;  “Ellen  Douglas 
Tells  What  She  Thinks  of  Jessica  as  a  Daughter” ;  “Gareth 
Talks  to  His  Son  on  Chivalry  To-Day,”  “A  True  Older 
Brother”  (in  contrast  with  Hans  and  Schwartz  in  Ruskin ’s 
story)  can  be  used  as  starting  points  for  many  a  helpful 
reflection. 


260 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


We  need  higher  standards  of  debate  than  those  ordinarily 
prevalent.  There  is  moral  danger  when  yonng  people  are 
more  eager  to  win  a  victory  in  debate  than  to  achieve  the 
right  object,  a  clarification  of  the  truth.  So  common  is  this 
mistaken  attitude  that  it  may  often  be  advisable  to  let  the 
work  in  oral  composition  take  the  form  of  discussion  rather 
than  of  set  debate. 

Questions  and  Problems 

1.  Would  you  recommend  the  old  school  custom  of  having  pupils 
write  compositions  on  moral  “texts’^? 

2.  What  is  the  advantage  in  having  pupils  write  their  opinions 
on  specific  moral  problems?  Show  how  such  topics  may  be 
selected  from  most  of  the  school  activities. 

3.  Show  how  a  development  of  imagination  helps  moral  growth 
and  how  composition  work  can  aid  here.  What  advantage 
is  there  in  having  pupils  write  their  own  dramatizations? 

4.  What  advantages  are  there  in  introducing  a  course  in  ele^ 
mentary  logic  into  the  English  work  of  the  high  school? 

5.  What  is  the  ethical  value  in  requiring  clear  outlines  before 
a  composition  is  written? 

References 

Brown,  R.  W.,  How  the  French  Boy  Learns  to  Write. 

Chubb,  Percival,  The  Teaching  of  English. 

Cooper,  Lane,  “The  Teaching  of  Written  Composition”  and  “The 
Correction  of  Papers”  in  Two  Views  of  Education. 

Davis,  J.  B.,  “Vocational  and  Moral  Guidance  Through  English 
Composition,”  English  Journal,  Vol.  I. 

Hosic,  J.  F.,  “The  Reorganization  of  English  in  Secondary 
Schools.” 

Klapper,  Paul,  The  Teaching  of  English. 

Leonard,  S.  A.,  English  Composition  as  a  Social  Problem. 
Stowe,  A.  M.,  “Student  Debating  Activities,”  Ch.  XVIII,  John¬ 
ston,  Modern  High  School. 

Thomas,  C.  S.,  The  Teaching  of  English  in  the  Secondary  School. 


VALUES  IN  POREIUN  LANGUAGES  263 


III.  Foreign  Languages 

The  ethical  values  in  English  literature  are  found  also  in 
writings  in  foreign  tongues.  The  special  advantage  in  the 
study  of  foreign  languages  is  the  opportunity  to  enter 
appreciatively  into  the  lives  and  aspirations  of  people  who 
are  unlike  us.  It  is  not  sufficient,  as  has  been  said,  that  we 
respect  foreign  nationalities  simply  for  their  points  of  like¬ 
ness  to  ourselves.  Each  nation  has  its  unique  contributions 
to  make  toward  perfecting  the  general  type.  Respect  for 
others,  therefore,  on  the  ground  of  their  very  difference 
from  ourselves  is  quite  as  essential  as  the  recognition  of 
broad  underlying  similarities. 

In  the  daily  exercises  in  translation,  much  should  be  made 
of  the  responsibility  for  reporting  correctly  what  another 
person  says  or  writes.  It  ought  to  be  easy  to  make  pupils 
see  the  mischief  in  loose  or  inaccurate  reproduction  of  the 
statements  of  other  persons,  for  example,  gossip,  rumor,  or 
distorted  versions  of  the  truth.  The  lessons  in  translation 
should  remind  the  pupils  of  the  need  to  read  accurately,  not 
simply  the  letter  of  other  people ’s  utterances,  but  the  spirit. 


Questions  and  Problems 

1.  What  has  America  gained  from  the  gifts  of  immigrants  who 
are  not  Anglo-Saxons?  (See  H.  A.  Miller  and  R.  E.  Park, 
Old  World  Traits  Transplanted;  S.  P.  Breckenridge,  New 
Homes  for  Old;  J.  P.  Gavit,  Americans  by  Choice.) 

2.  In  the  parable  of  ^‘The  Rings”  in  Lessing’s  Nathan  the  Wise, 
apply  the  point  to  national  differences. 

3.  Select  any  foreign-language  story  that  appeals  to  you,  show 
its  ethical  values,  and  describe  methods  of  making  these  values 
explicit. 

4.  To  many  people  in  America  and  Great  Britain,  the  fact  of 
a  common  language  has  not  made  for  greater  friendship. 
What  must  accompany  the  acquaintance  with  another 
country’s  language  and  literature? 


262 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


5.  Lowell  says  that  the  literature  of  another  language  ‘Ogives  us 
the  prime  benefits  of  foreign  travel  .  .  .  and  enlarges  aesthetic 
charity.”  To  what  further  good  should  these  benefits  minister? 
See  also  “Questions  and  Problems”  in  “Literature.” 


References 

Bahlsen,  Leopold,  The  Teaching  of  Modern  Languages. 

Hall,  G.  S.,  Educational  Problems,  Vol.  II,  Ch.  XV. 

Henderson,  C.  H.,  What  Is  It  To  Be  Educated?,  pp.  225-254, 
348-355. 

Judd,  C.  H.,  The  Psychology  of  High  School  Subjects,  Ch.  VII. 
Inglis,  a.  J.,  Principles  of  Secondary  Education,  Ch.  XIII. 
Lowell,  J.  R.,  The  Study  of  Modern  Languages. 

Monroe,  Paul,  Principles  of  Secondary  Education,  Ch.  XI. 
Thomas,  Calvin,  “Good  and  Bad  Reasons  for  Studying  Modern 
Languages  in  School,”  Modern  Language  J ournal,  October, 
1920. 


IV.  Art 

The  ethical  values  implicit  in  great  literature  are  true  of 
the  other  arts  as  well.  As  Emerson  put  it : 

Shakespeare,  Homer,  Dante,  Chaucer,  saw  the  splendor  of 
meaning  that  plays  over  the  visible  world;  knew  that  a  tree  had 
another  use  than  for  apples,  and  corn  another  than  for  meal, 
and  the  ball  of  the  earth  than  for  tillage  and  roads;  that  these 
things  bore  a  second  and  finer  harvest  to  the  mind. 

It  is  this  finer  harvest  that  is  the  concern  of  those  who 
teach  music,  painting,  sculpture,  dancing,  dramatics,  and 
the  other  arts. 

These  studies  prepare  at  the  least  for  the  worthy  use  of 
leisure.  The  importance  of  such  use  of  leisure  should  be 
shown.  Art  activities  also  provide  occasion  to  satisfy  dis¬ 
tinct  cravings  of  the  growing  nature  which,  unless  they 


VALUES  IN  ART 


263 


find  a  healthy  expression  in  aesthetic  creation  and  enjoy¬ 
ment,  are  likely  instead  to  find  debasing  outlet.  If  there 
is  any  special  age  that  requires  to  be  fed  upon  beauty,  it  is 
youth  with  its  disturbing  new  wealth  of  emotions.  No 
recreation  can  be  more  wholesome  at  this  period  than  the 
making  of  beautiful  objects. 

It  is  a  mistake,  however,  to  suppose  that  education  in 
beauty  must  come  entirely  through  the  attempt  to  create. 
Those  who  cannot  play  musical  instruments  can  neverthe¬ 
less  enjoy  good  music  and  need  to  be  taught  appreciation. 
It  is  an  excellent  thing  for  our  country  that  no  city  high- 
school  building  is  considered  completely  furnished  to-day 
unless  it  has  a  good  organ  and  a  good  equipment  for  dra¬ 
matic  performances. 

The  relations  between  beauty  and  right  living  are  close. 
Note  how  frequently  terms  of  the  moral  vocabulary  are 
taken  from  the  field  of  aesthetics,  for  example,  “fair,” 
“ugly,”  “fine,”  “coarse,”  “beautiful.”  The  thing  of 
beauty  testifies  to  the  fact  that  there  are  values  in  life  which 
cannot  be  measured  in  terms  of  material  standards.  More¬ 
over,  every  beautiful  object  suggests  perfect  relationships. 
Inspired  by  this  conception,  the  work  of  art  represents 
painstaking  selection  and  arrangement  of  precisely  those 
sounds  or  colors  or  words  that  contribute  to  the  perfect 
whole.  Without  tedious  moralizing,  teachers  of  the  art 
studies  have  abundant  opportunity  to  put  forward  these 
analogies  between  beauty  and  noble  living.  “The  beauty 
of  earth  and  all  that  is  precious  and  great  in  this  human 
life  of  ours  is  but  a  hint  and  a  suggestion  of  an  eternal 
fairness,  an  eternal  rightness.  ’  ’  ^ 

Group  activities  in  music  and  in  dramatization  offer  op¬ 
portunities  for  pupils  to  learn  to  cooperate  for  worthy  ends. 


2  Felix  Adler,  Life  and  Destiny,  p.  13. 


264  EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


Questions  and  Problems 

1.  Apply  to  painting  and  sculpture  the  points  treated  in  the 
section  on  Literature. 

2.  Explain  the  statement:  “The  beautiful  object  lends  us  its 
dignity.’^ 

3.  Read  Keats^  “Ode  to  a  Grecian  Urn”  and  show  from  it  why 
there  is  ethical  value  in  great  art. 

4.  If  art  was  neglected  or  frowned  upon  by  the  austere  Puri¬ 
tans  and  loved  by  loose-lived  folk  in  Athens  and  Renaissance 
Italy,  is  there  still  anything  to  be  said  for  its  ethical  values? 

5.  Why  do  so  many  graduates  of  American  schools  and  colleges 
patronize  inferior  plays  and  concerts? 

6.  What  objections  are  commonly  heard  in  America  to  teaching 
the  fine  arts  in  public  schools?  How  are  these  to  be  answered? 

7.  What  suggestions  from  the  practice  of  ancient  Athens  can 
modern  communities  get? 

8.  What  opportunities  does  your  community  provide  for  getting 
the  best  out  of  young  people^s  love  of  dancing? 

9.  What  evidences  can  you  mention  that  the  taste  of  America 
in  art  is  improving?  To  what  is  this  growth  to  be  attributed? 


References 

Addams,  Jane,  The  Spirit  of  Youth  and  the  City  Streets, 
Ch.  I,  IV. 

Chubb,  Percival,  Festivals  and  Plays. 

Dickinson,  G.  L.,  The  Greek  View  of  Life,  Ch.  IV. 

DeGarmo,  Charles,  Principles  of  Secondary  Education,  Vol. 
Ill,  pp.  158-172. 

Dow,  A.  W.,  The  Theory  and  Practice  of  Teaching  Art, 
Farnsworth,  C.  P.,  Music  in  Education. 

Griggs,  E.  H.,  Moral  Education,  Ch.  XI. 

Hayward,  F.  H.,  The  Lesson  in  Appreciation. 

Johnston,  C.  H.,  The  Modern  High  School,  Ch.  XXVIII. 
Monroe,  Paul,  Principles  of  Secondary  Education,  Ch.  XV. 
“Music  in  Secondary  Schools”  (Government  Printing  Office). 
Palmer,  G.  H.,  The  Field  of  Ethics,  Ch.  III. 

Parker,  S.  C.,  Methods  of  Teaching  in  High  Schools,  Ch.  X. 
Sneath,  E.  H.,  and  Hodges,  George,  Moral  Training  in  the 
School  and  Home,  Ch.  XL 


VALUES  IN  HISTOKY  AND  CIVICS 


265 


Schiller,  Frederick,  Letters  on  the  Esthetic  Education  of  the 
Human  Race. 

School  and  Home,  March,  1923  (Art  Number). 

Sharp,  F.  C.,  The  Esthetic  Element  in  Morality. 


Vo  History  and  Civics 

‘‘In  the  many-sided  life  of  our  American  democracy, 
says  a  report  familiar  to  all  teachers  of  history,  “there  are 
opportunities  on  every  hand  for  American  boys  and  girls 
to  exercise  all  they  have  found  brave  and  wise  and  true  in 
the  study  of  their  European  and  American  ancestry.’’® 
But  what  is  of  first  importance  in  all  these  traditions? 

Readers  of  Galsworthy’s  The  Mob  will  remember  the 
scene  where  the  news  arrives  that  the  British  troops  have 
beaten  the  enemy  and  Stephen  More’s  daughter  exclaims: 
“Of  course  we  were  littler  than  them.  We  always  are ;  and 
we  always  win.  That ’s  why  I  like  history .  ”  It  was  not  in 
British  schools  alone  that  this  kind  of  history  teaching  was 
the  rule.  For  a  time  it  looked  as  if  this  conception  of  his^ 
tory  as  a  tale  of  each  country ’s  military  glories  were  on  the 
way  to  a  well-merited  banishment.  To-day,  however,  there 
is  danger  of  its  resurgence  luider  the  spell  of  victory  in  the 
World  War.  Although  there  is  little  likelihood  of  our  going 
back  to  the  extreme  represented  by  the  old-time  “penny 
dreadful”  tales  of  military  glory,  the  related  error  is  pres¬ 
ent  in  the  shape  of  a  renewed  tendency  to  make  American 
history  the  vehicle  for  reinstating  the  narrowest  national¬ 
ism.  The  way  out  has  been  mentioned  in  the  chapter  on 
this  topic.  History  should  be  an  attempt  to  understand 
to-day’s  problems,  and  not  simply  its  military  or  political 
problems,  by  trying  to  see  how  people  met  their  problems 


3  The  Study  of  History  in  the  Elementary  Schools,  a  report  to  the 
American  Historical  Association  by  the  Committee  of  Eight  (Charles 
Scribner’s  Sons,  1911). 


266 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


in  the  past,  especially  by  trying  to  see  what  ideas  and  ideals 
they  brought  to  bear. 

‘‘It  is  not  kings  and  dynasties,  campaigns  and  statutes, 
that  we  have  to  study  primarily,  but  problems;  and  prob¬ 
lems  are  history  in  the  making.  Unless  the  historian  can  find 
the  moral  problem  in  the  event  of  the  past,  he  is  dealing  with 
only  dry  bones.”  ^  In  other  words,  since  people  are  obliged 
in  every  age  to  learn  how  to  live  together,  history  can  be 
made  one  of  the  most  fruitful  subjects  in  the  school  when 
this  point  of  view  is  applied  to  problems  such  as  the  follow¬ 
ing  :  ways  of  earning  a  living ;  social  classes,  their  conflicts 
and  adjustments ;  attitudes  toward  those  who  differ — toler¬ 
ance,  intolerance,  democratic  appreciation,  and  encourage¬ 
ment  ;  patriotism  and  changes  in  the  conception  of  loyalty ; 
science  and  its  relation  to  health,  industry,  transportation, 
social  intercourse;  war  and  peace;  education;  recreation; 
changing  moral  standards.®  The  chief  value  of  any  such 
study  should  be  the  light  that  it  throws  upon  similar  prob¬ 
lems  in  present  life. 

Suggestions  as  to  the  ethical  approach  to  these  problems 
have  been  offered  in  preceding  chapters  of  this  book.  Here 
let  us  look  at  a  few  general  ideas  which  history  and  civics 
can  make  specially  fruitful. 

Prominent  among  these  is  the  thought  of  social  heredity, 
that  is,  that  things  do  not  just  happen  out  of  a  clear  sky 
but  that  they  go  back  to  the  life  of  earlier  days.  For  this 
reason  it  is  good  that  the  best  schools  now  link  up  the  study 
of  American  history  even  in  the  elementary  grades  with 
some  knowledge  of  the  European  backgrounds,  the  contri¬ 
butions  of  Greece,  Rome,  Mediaeval  Europe,  Great  Britain. 
-  — '  —  ■  ■  ■  ■  — ■  -  '  ■  ■  ■■...■  -  —  . 

•*D.  S.  Muzzey,  “Ethical  Values  in  History,”  a  paper  submitted 
at  the  Second  International  Moral  Education  Congress,  p.  109. 
(Published  by  the  American  Ethical  Union,  2  West  64th  Street,  New 
York,  1912.) 

5  See,  for  instance,  L.  T.  Hobhouse,  Morals  in  Evolution^  Part  I, 
Ch.  VI. 


VALUES  IN  HISTORY  AND  CIVICS 


267 


The  truth  should  be  impressed  that  the  acts  of  one.  genera¬ 
tion  bear  fruit  for  good  or  ill  in  the  lives  of  succeeding 
ages.  Consider,  for  example,  how  our  public  schools  of 
to-day,  free,  unsectarian,  offering  to  every  child  opportu¬ 
nities  undreamt  of  in  the  past,  are  indebted  to  the  labors 
of  many  generations — to  Luther,  to  the  French  Revolution, 
to  the  scientists,  to  reformers  and  workers  of  all  sorts.  Let 
the  teacher  recall  his  own  studies  at  the  normal  school  in 
the  history  of  education  to  see  how  immense  and  how  in¬ 
spiring  is  the  debt  for  to-day  ^s  schooling  to  a  long  roll  of 
men  in  the  past.  Each  subject  taught  in  the  schools  has  its 
history.  Is  it  fair  to  teach  science  without  introducing  our 
pupils  to  the  history  of  its  progress,  especially  its  biographic 
history  ? 

Some  of  our  impatient  advocates  of  modernity  [forget  that] 
.  .  .  there  is  not  an  epoch  in  the  past  that  cannot  be  made  to 
reveal  its  vital  connection  with  the  life  of  to-day — to.  those  who 
have  the  eyes  to  see.  .  .  .  The  sense  of  responsibility  for  the 
future  is  directly  referable,  in  both  origin  and  intensity,  to  the 
sense  of  heirship  from  the  past.  Moreover,  it  is  but  common 
decency  that  we  should  acknowledge  the  debt.  We  accept  the 
comforts  and  liberties  into  which  we  are  born  as  we  accept  the 
air  we  breathe.  But  if  it  had  not  been  for  the  labor,  the  suffering, 
and  often  the  martyrdom  of  men  and  nations,  we  should  be  still 
living  the  life  of  the  uncivilized.  .  .  .  Can  anyone  who  has  never 
been  taught  the  story  of  how  he  and  his  fellows  came  to  be  what 
they  are,  be  expected  to  help  society  much  in  becoming  what  it 
should  be?  ® 

Not  all  our  social  heritage,  however,  has  been  beneficent. 
It  is  possible  for  the  generations  to  bequeath  evils.  Amer¬ 
ica  is  indebted  for  good  to  the  ship  that  landed  at  Pl5nnouth 
in  1620 ;  but  the  year  before  this  auspicious  date,  another 
ship  brought  momentous  consequences  of  a  different  kind 

6  D.  S.  Muzzey,  “The  Discipline  of  History,”  School  and  Hornet 
March,  1922,  p.  13. 


268  EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


to  our  shores.  When  that  vessel  landed  its  cargo  of  slaves 
at  Jamestown,  the  fruits  appeared  in  the  tragedies  of  the 
slave  system,  of  the  Civil  War  and  its  aftermath.  Our 
pupils  will  be  better  citizens  if  they  form  the  habit  of  fore¬ 
casting  the  effect  likely  to  be  produced  upon  future  genera¬ 
tions  by  what  society  is  doing  or  failing  to  do  at  the  present 
time. 

A  second  leading  conception  is  that  of  evolution  and  with 
it,  the  duty  of  progress.  Too  frequent  an  obstacle  to  social 
advance  is  the  inability  of  great  masses  of  people  to  under¬ 
stand  that  harmful  prevailing  practices,  in  spite  of  their 
long  and  apparently  secure  intrenchment,  should  and  can 
be  changed  for  the  better.  One  of  the  aims  of  history  teach¬ 
ing  should  be  to  show  how  man  has  improved  upon  his 
customs  and  institutions,  and  to  encourage  the  conviction 
that  further  change  is  still  desirable  and  possible.  There 
is  every  need  of  special  help  for  the  new  truths  which  have 
not  yet  won  universal  recognition :  ’’ 

At  every  crossing  on  the  road  that  leads  to  the  future,  each 
progressive  spirit  is  opposed  by  a  thousand  men  appointed  to 
guard  the  past.  Let  us  have  no  fear  lest  the  fairest  towers  of 
former  days  be  sufficiently  defended.  The  least  that  the  most 
trained  among  us  can  do  is  not  to  add  to  the  immense  dead-weight 
which  nature  drags  along. 

Care  must  be  exercised,  however,  to  keep  young  people 
from  minimizing  the  good  even  in  institutions  that  need 
reconstruction.  The  first  essential  to  making  the  environ¬ 
ment  over  for  the  better  is  a  genuine  appreciation  of  what 
still  deserves  to  be  honored.  In  this  connection  pupils 
should  be  reminded  how  largely  to-day’s  advance  over  the 
past  is  due  to  the  very  labors  of  which  they  may  now  be 
tempted  to  think  lightly.  For  example,  we  know  vastly 

7  Maurice  Maeterlinck,  quoted  in  J.  H.  Robinson,  The  New  Sis- 

toryy  p.  260. 


VALUES  IN  HISTORY  AND  CIVICS 


269 


more  about  America  to-day  than  Columbus  knew,  but  only 
because  of  what  he  achieved.  ^‘A  dwarf  perched  upon  the 
shoulders  of  a  giant”  sees  farther  than  the  giant  does,  but 
he  should  remember  why. 

A  third  idea  over  which  to  linger  is  that  the  great  changes 
in  life  take  time.  In  New  York,  the  metropolis  of  the  West¬ 
ern  World,  it  is  less  than  three-quarters  of  a  century  since 
the  schools  became  entirely  “public”  in  the  present  sense. 
It  was  only  in  1853  that  the  city  ceased  paying  a  subsidy 
to  a  philanthropic  body,  the  Public  School  Society,  and  put 
the  schools  on  their  present  basis.  Slavery  lingered  till 
1863,  even  though  Thomas  Paine  had  advocated  abolition 
as  early  as  1774  and  though  Southerners  like  Jefferson  had 
emancipated  their  blacks. 

The  thought  should  not  at  all  be  put  forward  to  chill  the 
enthusiasm  of  youth.  The  affairs  of  our  globe  call  loudly 
enough  for  ethically  directed  evolution.  Our  age  is  sum¬ 
moned  to  abolish  war,  to  abolish  poverty,  ignorance,  dis¬ 
ease,  famine,  all  with  the  ultimate  object  of  lifting  the  per¬ 
sonal  quality  in  the  life  of  our  planet.  These  are  no  light 
tasks,  and  it  is  especially  to  our  young  that  we  must  always 
look  for  the  needed  fresh  reserves  of  moral  power.  Their 
eagerness  must  not  be  dampened.  The  reason  for  mention¬ 
ing  the  obstacles  is  rather  to  impress  upon  them  the  fact 
that  progress  is  more  than  a  matter  of  youthful  eagerness 
to  initiate  change  and  that  it  calls  for  endless  patience  to 
understand  the  problems  involved,  fairness  to  appreciate 
the  best  as  well  as  the  worst  in  the  reasons  for  the  opposi¬ 
tion,®  and  unflinching  grit  to  persist  in  the  face  of  repeated 
setbacks. 

Not  the  least  opportunity  open  to  teachers  of  the  social 
studies  is  the  chance  to  cultivate  in  young  people  standards 
of  fair  judgment.  Science  is  often  hailed  as  the  great  dis- 


8  Cf.  Lincoln’s  understanding  of  the  Southern  point  of  view. 


270 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


cipline  to  teach  breadth  and  integrity  of  view.  In  some 
respects  the  opportunity  offered  by  history  is  better,  be¬ 
cause  the  facts  with  which  the  physical  sciences  deal  are 
relatively  impersonal,  whereas  history  deals  with  personal 
judgments  which  are  much  more  intimate  and  much  more 
likely  to  be  colored  by  the  bias  of  race,  section,  class,  and 
self-interest.  This  incident  from  recent  history  is  instruc¬ 
tive:  The  New  Republic  of  August  4,  1920,  published  a  sup¬ 
plement  of  over  forty  pages  of  double  columns  setting  side 
by  side  the  news  of  happenings  in  Russia  as  presented  in 
the  headlines  of  the  New  York  Times  for  the  two  and  a  half 
years  preceding  and  as  these  events  had  really  occurred. 
The  counter-revolutionary  generals,  Kolchak  and  Denikin, 
were  credited  with  victories,  for  instance,  which  had  not 
been  theirs  at  all.  No  charge  was  made  that  the  paper  had 
deliberately  deceived  its  readers.  The  point  emphasized 
was  that  the  bias  of  the  Times  was  very  evident  in  believing 
and  selecting  only  the  news  which  it  wanted  to  believe  was 
true.  The  incident  is  important  in  that  whatever  Ameri¬ 
cans  may  have  thought  of  the  wisdom  or  unwisdom  of  rec¬ 
ognizing  Soviet  Russia,  it  was  difficult  for  them  to  get  the 
only  basis  on  which  to  form  a  sound  judgment — an  accurate 
statement  of  the  facts.^ 

Upon  the  history  teacher  in  particular  the  burden  is  laid 
of  trying  to  educate  a  generation  that  will  want  to  be 
utterly  fair  in  its  judgments.  Our  young  people  should  be 
taught  the  difference  between  gossip  and  proof.  They 
should  know  the  moral  value  in  reserving  one’s  judgment 
until  the  necessary  facts  are  known.  They  should  be  trained 
to  look  for  the  distorting  effects  of  partisan  bias.  Espe¬ 
cially  should  they  learn  the  truth  in  the  saying  of  Emer¬ 
son,  ‘  ‘  The  wise  man  throws  himself  on  the  side  of  his  assail¬ 
ant,”  and  of  Edmund  Burke,  “My  opponent  is  my  helper.” 

9  Read  Walter  Lippman,  Public  Opinion,  especially  p.  409,  for 
illustration  of  how  to  teach  pupils  to  read  newspapers. 


VALUES  IN  HISTORY  AND  CIVICS 


271 


The  clashes  of  people  and  of  nations  are  rarely  conflicts 
between  angels  and  demons ;  and  no  sophistry  is  more  mis¬ 
leading — its  very  sincerity  makes  it  the  more  dangerous — 
than  the  natural  illusion  that  one’s  own  side  to  a  contro¬ 
versy  must  be  absolutely  right  and  the  other  completely 
wrong.  Perhaps  we  can  never  look  forward  to  a  day  when 
men’s  judgments  on  vital  questions  will  be  unanimous.  But 
what  a  world  of  tragedy  will  be  averted  when  they  learn  to 
recognize  what  is  fair  in  the  claims  of  their  opponents ! 

Help  to  this  end  can  be  offered  by  closely  examining  both 
sides  in  controversies  of  the  past.  For  instance,  the  point 
of  view  of  the  South  in  the  Civil  War  should  be  explained 
to  Northern  pupils  by  something  more  than  a  perfunctory 
recital  of  “reasons  why  the  South  seceded.”  These  should 
be  made  as  vivid  as  possible,  through  editorials  from  South¬ 
ern  newspapers,  through  letters,  through  such  biographies 
as  Bradford’s  Robert  E.  Lee,  American}^ 

It  is  particularly  enlightening  to  show  how  moral  stand- 


n>  “Can  anyone  who  has  observed  the  typical  citizen  of  to-day 
doubt  .  .  .  that  his  political  opinions  are  often  formed  on  the 
flimsiest  and  narrowest  foundation  and  afterwards  parted  with,  if 
at  all,  with  as  much  reluctance  as  one  would  display  if  called  upon 
to  give  up  a  tooth  or  an  eye?  Of  course  this  attitude  is  not  due 
solely  to  the  conservative  study  of  history  ...  ;  it  is  probably  just 
human  nature  .  .  .  ;  but  can  one  claim  that  the  conservative  view 
has  done  much  to  help  men  rise  above  this  unreflective  and  partisan 
attitude  ? 

“The  progressive  maintains  that  history  should  be  related  to  the 
important  institutions  and  happenings  of  the  present  time.  .  .  . 
But  the  important  thing  still  remains  to  be  done — the  right  mental 
attitude  in  dealing  with  questions  of  the  day  has  still  to  be  culti¬ 
vated.  .  .  .  The  right  way  implies  open  and  fair-minded  suspension 
of  judgment,  tentative  conclusions,  and  reserve  in  expressing  opin¬ 
ions.  The  first  prerequisite  for  the  cultivation  of  this  attitude  on 
the  part  of  the  pupil  is,  of  course,  the  example  set  by  the  instructor. 
But  this  is  not  enough.  The  pupil  who  is  to  become  open-minded 
must  actually  practice  open-mindedness;  the  pupil  who  is  to  learn 
to  suspend  judgment  must  actually  practice  suspension  of  judg¬ 
ment.”  F.  C.  Lewis,  School  and  Home,  March,  1922,  p.  30, 


272 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


ards  change  and  how  necessary  it  is  to  reckon  with  these 
changes  in  one ’s  estimates  of  moral  value.^^  There  is  much 
to  ponder  in  this  word  by  Dr.  Lea : 

To  depict  a  man  like  Philip  the  Second  as  a  monster  of  iniquity, 
delighting  in  human  misery,  may  gratify  prejudice  and  may  lend 
superficial  life  and  vigor  to  narrative ;  but  it  teaches  in  reality  no 
lesson.  To  represent  him  truthfully  as  the  inevitable  product 
of  a  distorted  ethical  conception  is  to  trace  effects  to  their  causes 
and  to  point  out  the  way  to  improvement.  .  .  .  [This]  is  not  to 
approve,  tacitly  or  overtly,  the  infiuences  which  made  him  what 
he  was — what,  in  fact,  he  could  not  help  being.  These  influences 
we  may  condemn  all  the  more  heartily  when  we  see  that  they 
made  of  a  man,  slow  of  intellect  but  obstinate  in  the  performance 
of  what  he  was  taught  to  regard  as  a  duty,  the  scourge  of  his 
fellow-creatures,  in  place  of  being  their  benefactor. 

The  older  our  pupils  grow,  the  more  they  will  meet  this 
problem  of  changed  standards.  The  obligation  of  the  school 
is  clear.  Although  the  younger  children  can  understand 
only  unqualified  hero-worship,  the  older  ones  can  be  helped 
to  be  more  discriminating ;  for  example,  their  reverence  for 
the  genuine  greatness  in  George  Washington  need  not  be 
diminished  by  the  fact  that  he  owned  slaves  or  by  his  dis¬ 
missing  as  folly  the  proposition  that  vessels  could  be  navi¬ 
gated  by  steam.  The  Patrick  Henry  whose  plea  for  political 
liberty  has  become  one  of  our  classics  was  opposed  later  to 
Thomas  Jefferson’s  bill  for  religious  emancipation.  Daniel 
Webster  was  by  no  means  a  saint;  the  rifts  in  the  per^ 
sonalities  of  great  men  which  our  pupils  sooner  or  later 
find  out  are  numerous  and  important  enough.  The  right 
sort  of  teacher  will  not  shirk  these  difficulties.  They  offer 
the  chance  to  train  young  people  into  a  discriminating 
appreciation  which  will  be  proof  against  the  devastating 

11  For  applications  to  American  history,  see  W.  H.  Mace,  Method 
in  History,  pp.  62,  63. 

12  H.  C.  Lea,  “Ethical  Values  in  History”  (American  Historical 
Association,  1903),  p.  69. 


VALUES  IN  HISTORY  AND  CIVICS 


273 


effects  frequently  accompanying  the  shock  of  disillusion. 
To  the  more  thoughtful,  they  also  warm  the  feeling  for  ideal 
excellence  with  the  sense  of  how  superb  the  ideal  life  must 
be  in  order  to  surpass  the  imperfections  in  the  heroes  whom 
one  wants  to  admire  without  reserve.^^ 

Chief  stress,  however,  should  be  placed  on  the  construc¬ 
tive  values  in  the  lives  of  the  great.  If  criticism  implies 
discrimination,  it  is  also,  as  Goethe  said,  “the  ability  to 
admire  greatly.  ’  ’  In  the  main,  the  chief  value  in  biography 
will  be  found  to  lie  in  its  witness  to  the  idea  that : 

The  moral  element  is  of  surpassing  importance  in  history. 
Truth  has  its  supreme  embodiment  in  personality.  Therefore 
special  emphasis  should  be  given  to  personal  force,  because  it  is 
truth  in  the  concrete,  and  the  great  life  principles  as  they  have 
been  embodied  in  individual  men,  that  win  the  deep  interest  of 
the  boy  or  girl.  .  .  .  By  emphasizing  the  service  of  distinguished 
men  as  they  are  identified  with  great  social,  industrial,  and  politi¬ 
cal  movements,  the  pupil  will  get  at  the  true  meaning  of  history, 
for  the  aims  and  aspirations  of  great  leaders  reveal  the  aims 
and  aspirations  that  inspire  the  people. 

To  remember  this  connection  between  leaders  and  people 
will  save  us  from  the  fallacy  of  making  history  the  biog¬ 
raphies  of  great  men.  But  the  power  of  personality  must 
never  be  slighted.  It  is  true  that  economic  interpretations 
do  not  yet  receive  all  the  importance  they  deserve.  The 
teaching  of  history  will  never  come  into  its  own  until  every 
available  light  on  our  problems  is  free  to  offer  itself.  But 
we  shall  go  astray  if  we  ever  minimize  the  dynamic  impor¬ 
tance  of  ideals. 


13  In  this  regard  a  reading  of  Emerson’s  Representative  Men  is 
to  be  recommended.  The  writer  recalls  how,  when  he  first  read  it 
in  his  youth,  he  thought  that  it  was  over-fastidious  to  point  out 
limitations  in  Shakespeare,  Montaigne,  and  the  others.  It  was  better 
for  Emerson’s  standard  of  greatness  to  be  high, 

1*  The  Study  of  History  in  the  Elementary  Schools,  p.  107. 


274 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


Questions  and  Problems 

1.  In  what  respects  does  history  offer  advantages  over  literature 
for  ethical  treatment? 

2.  Apply  to  any  problem  of  current  history  the  distinction  drawn 
in  the  closing  chapter  of  this  book  (pp.  367,  368)  between 
propaganda  and  the  demands  of  truth. 

3.  Read  G.  B.  Mangold’s  Problems  of  Child  Welfare  and  report 
on  how  a  better  citizenship  would  meet  these  problems. 

4.  In  what  respects  do  you  think  our  political  institutions  can 
be  improved? 

5.  What  obstacles  are  there  to  the  kind  of  teaching  suggested 
in  this  chapter? 

6.  Show  how  the  school  life  is  itself  an  opportunity  for  the  prac¬ 
tice  of  citizenship.  What  are  the  ideals  of  citizenship  in  the 
school  that  you  know  best?  What  changes  in  the  school  life 
would  be  necessitated  by  changed  ideals  of  citizenship? 

7.  Few  people  know  more  about  the  forms  of  our  government- 
than  do  our  political  bosses  and  party  hacks.  What  problems 
are  set  for  educators  by  this  fact? 

8.  What  means  can  you  suggest  to  have  pupils  feel  for  their 
community  and  their  state  the  attachment  felt  for  the  nation? 

References 

See,  besides  references  quoted  in  text: 

Add  AMS,  Jane,  Democracy  and  Social  Ethics;  Twenty  Tears 
at  Hull  House. 

Beard,  C.  A.,  and  Beard,  M.  R.,  American  Citizenship. 

Beard,  C.  A.,  American  Government  and  Politics. 

Bourne,  H.  E.,  The  Teaching  of  History  and  Civics. 

Cabot,  E.  L.,  A  Course  in  Citizenship. 

Dole,  C.  F.,  The  New  American  Citizen. 

Dunn,  A.  W.,  The  Community  and  the  Citizen;  The  Teaching  of 
Community  Civics. 

Follett,  M.  P.,  The  New  State. 

Hughes,  R.  0.,  Economic  Civics. 

Inglis,  a.  J.,  Principles  of  Secondary  Education,  Ch.  XVI. 

Johnson,  H.,  The  Teaching  of  History. 

Keatinge,  M.  W.,  Studies  in  the  Teaching  of  History. 

King,  Irving,  Education  for  Social  Efficiency. 

McMuery,  C.  a..  Special  Method  in  History. 


VALUES  IN  GEOGRAPHY 


275 


Myers,  P.  V.  N.,  History  as  Past  Ethics. 

Rexpord,  F.  a.,  ^‘Teaching  of  Civics”  (Board  of  Education,  Ne'w 
York). 

Snedden,  David,  Civic  Education. 

^‘Social  Studies  in  Secondary  Education”  (Government  Prints 
ing  Office). 

^^Teaching  of  Government,”  Report  of  Committee  of  the  American 
Political  Science  Association,  1916. 

See  also  References  for  Chapter  VI. 

VI.  Geography 

Because  geography  is  essentially  the  study  of  man’s  rela¬ 
tion  to  his  environment,  it  may  readily  be  correlated  with 
every  other  interest  of  the  school.  The  connection  is  par¬ 
ticularly  close  with  nature  study,  economics,  history,  and 
civics.  To  appreciate  the  dependence  of  intelligent  citi¬ 
zenship  on  a  knowledge  of  geography,  one  need  only  men¬ 
tion  such  problems  as  water  supply  and  conservation 
of  natural  wealth  and  such  activities  as  irrigation,  road¬ 
making,  canal-building,  harbor  construction,  geological  sur¬ 
vey,  and  coast  patrol. 

In  the  earlier  grades  geography  is  too  closely  linked  with 
nature  study  to  need  separate  attention.  The  connection 
persists  throughout  the  entire  course,  and  what  is  said  else¬ 
where  of  the  ethical  values  of  nature  study  and  science 
applies  here  as  well.  A  few  further  considerations,  how¬ 
ever,  may  be  offered  at  this  point.  Geography  presents  an 
excellent  chance  to  keep  before  our  pupils’  minds  the 
thought  of  human  interdependence.  City  and  country  need 
one  another;  so  do  land  and  land.  Good  and  ill  in  any 
part  of  the  world  produce  their  effects  elsewhere  as  well. 
The  prostration  of  industry  in  Central  Europe  after  the 
World  War  put  millions  of  people  out  of  work  in  Great 
Britain  and  America.  A  plague  of  influenza  in  India  car¬ 
ried  off  populations  in  Europe  and  the  Western  Hemisphere. 


276 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


But  health  and  the  goods  of  commerce  are  not  the  only 
things  that  pass  from  place  to  place.  All  the  peoples  of 
earth  depend  upon  one  another  for  the  interchange  of  ideas. 
No  country  to-day  dares  remain  provincial  or  content  with 
the  thought  of  its  own  superiority  over  other  lands.  East 
and  West,  for  instance,  need  each  other  badly.  The  Orient 
needs  Western  science;  but  the  West  needs  to  learn  from 
the  East  that  feverish  commercial  rivalry  and  aggressive 
nationalism  are  not  the  unquestioned  blessings  that  the 
Occident  is  prone  to  suppose.  All  the  countries  on  the 
globe  can  learn  from  one  another.  No  lesson  is  more  ur¬ 
gently  required  than  that  differences  do  not  necessarily 
mean  superiority  or  inferiority.  Each  country,  that  is,  has 
something  unique  to  give  to  every  other ;  and  only  as  each 
seeks  to  understand,  to  respect,  and  to  encourage  the  special 
best  in  its  fellows,  will  its  own  best  gifts  be  promoted.  This 
matter  is  treated  at  length  in  the  chapter  on  “The  Spirit 
of  Nationalism”  and  in  the  section  on  “Literature.”  The 
ideal  to  be  kept  in  the  foreground  is  that  of  world  harmony 
resulting  from  the  interplay  of  varied  excellences. 

In  the  lower  grades  the  geography  lessons  can  begin 
working  in  this  direction  by  trying  to  create  the  attitude 
of  mind  that  at  least  refrains  from  regarding  the  customs  of 
Chinese,  Hindoos,  Frenchmen,  Italians,  as  merely  funny. 
As  the  pupils  grow  older,  they  should  be  set  to  asking, 
“What  is  there  in  this  country’s  civilization  from  which 
our  own  can  learn;  and  what  can  this  other  land  learn 
from  us?” 

Of  highly  practical  importance  to-day  is  the  problem 
raised  by  the  geographical  fact  that  the  world’s  raw  mate¬ 
rials  are  limited  in  quantity  and  that  some  lands  are  more 
favored  than  others.  More  and  more  we  are  being  forced 
to  understand  that  one  of  the  chief  occasions  for  modern 
war  is  the  clash  of  desires  to  control  the  supply  of  oil  or 
iron  or  other  natural  wealth,  or  to  bar  competitors  from 


VALUES  IN  GEOGRAPHY 


277 


trade  routes  or  fields  of  investment.  During  the  World 
War,  there  was  a  temporary  approach  on  the  part  of  the 
Allies  to  something  better  than  the  usual  practice  of  “each 
for  himself.’’  Coal,  wheat,  cotton,  oil,  leather,  instead  of 
being  left  to  each  ally  to  buy  or  not  as  each  could,  were 
pooled  and  rationed.  AVhen  the  War  ended,  the  old  way 
was  restored,  but  the  day  must  be  made  to  come  when  war¬ 
breeding  competitive  scrambles  will  be  replaced  by  enlight¬ 
ened  cooperation. 

Geography  teachers  can  do  much  to  cultivate  this  better 
conception  because,  from  the  ethical  viewpoint,  geography 
is  the  study  of  what  man’s  will  and  reason  can  accomplish 
to  overcome  the  difficulties  of  his  natural  environment.  The 
story  of  civilization  is  a  tale  of  how  mankind  has  triumphed 
over  wild  beasts,  plagues,  excessive  heat,  biting  cold,  and 
other  obstacles.  The  ocean  which  was  once  a  barrier  men 
have  turned  into  a  road  by  which  swift,  luxurious  steamers 
bring  land  and  land  into  touch.  Man  has  wrought  for  him¬ 
self  still  another  road  through  the  air,  just  as  he  has  also 
built  roads  beneath  the  earth  and  beneath  the  water.  To 
avoid  dangerous  routes  for  his  vessels,  he  has  dug  a  Cape 
Cod  Canal.  To  save  more  lives,  he  has  erected  sea  walls  at 
Galveston.  He  has  irrigated  deserts,  drained  swamps, 
cleaned  up  plague  spots,  tunneled  the  mountains,  connected 
oceans  by  canals,  conducted  drinking  water  for  a  city  from 
a  reservoir  over  100  miles  away. 

All  these  are  the  conquests  of  man ’s  will  and  reason  ovei 
the  difficulties  presented  by  his  natural  environment.  The 
task  is  not  yet  completed.  There  are  still  quarters  of  the 
globe  that  need  to  be  saved  from  famine,  disease,  and  flood. 
And  a  still  greater  step  forward  will  be  to  overcome  the 
obstacles  created  by  man’s  own  disruptive  prejudices,  fol¬ 
lies,  and  greeds.  The  closeness  with  which  the  structure  of 
civilization  approached  wrecking  in  the  recent  War  is  a 
warning.  As  long  as  nations  still  eye  one  another  with  a 


278 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


mistrust  that  obliges  them  to  spend  billions  of  hard-won 
treasure  on  military  preparations,  our  assurance  that  we 
are  so  securely  and  highly  civilized  needs  to  be  chastened. 
We  shall  have  a  world  freed  from  the  assaults  of  the  brute 
in  man  when  enough  men  and  women  take  to  heart  sound 
ideals  of  the  purposes  for  which  human  will  ^d  intelli¬ 
gence  are  most  wisely  spent. 


Questions  and  Problems 

1.  Show  how  nations  benefit  from  one  another’s  excellence  in  art. 

2.  What  is  the  natural  response  of  most  children  to  pictures  of 
queer  foreign  customs,  for  example,  in  the  National  Geo¬ 
graphic  Magazine.  Are  these  likely  to  create  greater  sym¬ 
pathy  toward  people  of  other  lands?  What  suggestions  have 
you  to  offer? 

3.  Comment  on  the  problem  presented  in  ^‘The  Battle  Line  of 
Languages  in  Western  Europe/’  National  Geographic  Maga¬ 
zine,  February,  1923. 

4.  What  activities  are  directed  by  international  agencies  to-day? 
See  publications  of  the  American  Association  for  International 
Conciliation,  Columbia  University. 

5.  Read  A.  P.  Brigham’s  Geographic  Influences  in  American 
History.  How  would  such  a  study  applied  to  other  lands 
help  us  to  understand  their  problems? 

fi.  Read  W.  B.  Forbush,  The  Coming  Generation,  ^‘The  Wander 
Years,”  and  show  how  the  impulses  there  described  can  be 
educated. 


References 

Breckenridge,  S.  P.,  New  Homes  for  Old. 

Dodge,  R.  E.,  and  Kirch wey,  Freda,  Teaching  of  Geography. 
Gavit,  J.  P.,  Americans  by  Choice. 

Herbertson,  J.  a.  and  F.  D.,  Man  and  His  Work. 

Kingsley,  C.  D.,  “The  Study  of  Nations,”  School  and  Society, 
January  8,  1916. 

McMurry,  C.  a..  Special  Method  in  Geography. 

Reynolds,  M.  J.,  How  Man  Has  Conquered  Nature. 
Sutherland,  W.  J.,  The  Teaching  of  Geography. 


/ 


VALUES  IN  SCIENCE  279 

Trotter,  Spencer,  “The  Social  Function  of  Geography,”  Fourth 
Yearbook  of  the  National  Herbart  Society. 

Tuell,  H.  E.,  The  Study  of  Nations. 

See  also  the  References  for  Chapter  VI. 


VII.  Science 

In  the  lowest  grades,  science  or  nature  study  is  included 
more  or  less  in  geography.  One  of  its  aims  is  to  cultivate 
a  sense  of  being  at  home  in  the  world  of  natural  things  and 
to  foster  a  love  of  the  lovable  objects  found  therein.  One 
early  Spring  day,  a  little  child  exclaimed :  ‘  ‘  Ain ’t  crocuses 
wonderful?  Ain’t  tulips  wonderful?  Ain’t — ain’t  every¬ 
thing  wonderful?”  Without  knowing  it,  the  child  was 
illustrating  one  of  the  sources  from  which  the  religious 
sentiments  are  fed.  Another  purpose  of  nature  study  is  to 
lay  the  beginnings  of  that  close,  accurate,  and  sympathetic 
investigation  of  the  ways  of  Nature  by  which  man  better 
enables  himself  to  make  a  right  use  of  her  abundant  gifts. 
Besides,  by  learning  to  take  care  of  plants  and  animal  pets, 
children  are  introduced  to  practices  of  thoughtfulness  that 
are  of  obvious  advantage  in  the  right  treatment  of  human 
beings.  To  hunt  animals  and  birds  with  a  camera  calls  for 
all  the  skill,  steadiness,  and  quick  judgment  required  in 
hunting  with  a  rifle  or  a  sling  shot ;  and  it  is  worlds  better 
for  the  boy  in  still  more  important  respects.  The  nature 
stories  of  Seton,  Long,  Roberts,  Hawkes,  Sharp,  and  other 
writers  are  rich  in  suggestions  for  these  better  attitudes. 

Opportunities  for  practical  application  are  abundant. 
The  collecting  tendency,  which  manifests  itself  early  in  life, 
should  be  directed  to  gathering  interesting  specimens  for 
the  school  museum.  In  the  upper  grades,  pupils  can  make 
further  contributions  to  the  school  in  the  shape  of  shelves 
and  other  apparatus  needed  in  the  science  work.  There  is 
scarcely  an.  interest  with  which  this  study  may  not  be  corre- 


280 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


lated.  Hygiene,  domestic  economy,  industry,  citizenship, 
owe  uncountable  debts  to  science.  The  citizen  of  to-day, 
for  example,  dare  not  be  uninformed  upon  the  relation  of 
germs  to  public  health,  upon  waste  and  conservation  of 
natural  resources.  When  an  exposure  of  unhygienic  con¬ 
ditions  in  the  meat-packing  houses  led  to  the  introduction 
of  a  bill  to  establish  Federal  inspection,  a  member  of  Con¬ 
gress  made  a  sneering  reference  to  ‘  ‘  germs  and  other  inven¬ 
tions  of  chemists  and  theorists.  ’  ^  And  he  was  not  alone  in 
his  unenlightenment.  Fortunately  the  intimate  connection 
between  science  and  the  human  welfare  which  government 
is  expected  to  promote  is  more  and  more  being  recognized. 
Indeed,  so  important  is  the  work  of  scientific  research  now 
undertaken  by  State  and  Federal  governments  that  teachers 
will  find  some  of  their  best  subjects  and  material  in  the 
bulletins  issued  by  the  various  governmental  departments, 
for  example.  Bureau  of  Fisheries,  Geological  Survey,  Public 
Health  Service,  Forest  Service,  and  Department  of  Agri¬ 
culture.^® 

Two  cautions  against  the  misleading  uses  of  the  natural 
sciences  for  ethical  instruction  must  be  sounded.  First,  no 
capable  teacher  will  sentimentalize  over  the  seeming  analo¬ 
gies  between  the  life  of  nature  and  the  duties  of  man.  To 
draw  a  ‘‘lesson’’  on  the  value  of  right  social  relations,  as 
one  teacher  did,  from  the  symbiosis  exhibited  by  lichens,  the 
alga  contributing  food  and  the  fungus  protection,  is  to 
forget  that  ethical  relations  are  matters  of  right  adjustment 
of  human  wills.  There  is  nothing  moral  about  the  invol¬ 
untary  adjustments  in  the  natural  world,  and,  besides,  the 
natural  world  is  only  too  full  of  examples  of  predatory 
struggle  which  we  do  not  wish  men  and  women  to  imitate. 
Second,  the  value  of  thrift  and  patience  in  the  cultivation 

15  Suggestions  for  teachers  in  cities  will  be  found  in  “Course  of 
Study  in  Nature  and  Environment,”  Board  of  Education,  New  York 
City. 


VALUES  IN  SCIENCE 


281 


of  school  gardens,  of  strict  accuracy  in  reporting  experi¬ 
ments,  etc.,  are  only  instrumental.  Patience  can  be  em^ 
ployed  by  men  of  science  to  manufacture  poison  bombs  as 
well  as  medicines.  Everything  depends  upon  the  ultimate 
aim. 

Where  these  facts  are  remembered,  science  teaching  has 
much  to  contribute  to  the  making  of  character.  It  would 
be  a  help  if  it  did  no  more  than  offer  stimulus  and  means 
to  the  right  use  of  leisure.  Fondness  for  plants  and  ani¬ 
mals  will  provide  for  many  an  interesting  hour.  An  eager 
interest  in  the  study  of  Nature’s  secrets  will  fill  the  mind 
with  as  elevating  an  occupation  as  intelligent  people  can 
enjoy.  The  value  of  the  “out-of-doors”  movement  of  to¬ 
day  is  beyond  question. 

So  is  the  opportunity  presented  by  science  and  mathe- 
matics  for  a  training  in  exact  reasoning,  for  learning  better 
modes  of  reaching  conclusions  than  to  follow  the  lead  of 
impulse,  prejudice,  and  the  crowd  mind.  The  ability  to 
reason  from  cause  to  effect  is  necessary  to  counteract  loose 
thinking  and  wild  theorizing.  One  ounce  of  fact  is  worth 
more  than  a  ton  of  superstition.  The  use  of  the  chart,  the 
graph,  the  blue  print,  the  scales  and  other  instruments  of 
precision  can  do  much  to  correct  or  prevent  habits  of  nebu¬ 
lous  generalization.  How  far  this  training  will  carry  over 
into  right  attitudes  toward  people  whose  desires  clash  with 
our  own  is  by  no  means  certain.  It  is  worlds  easier  to  be 
dispassionate  and  accurate  in  statements  about  chemicals, 
fiowers,  insects,  wave  lengths,  than  about  persons  who  op¬ 
pose  our  favorite  beliefs  in  religion,  politics,  economics.^® 
Men  of  science  in  the  various  countries  at  war  were  not 
conspicuous  for  the  moderation  and  accuracy  of  their  utter¬ 
ances  about  enemy  countries.  The  need,  however,  for  every 
possible  help  toward  cultivating  fairness  and  exactness  can- 


16  See  Walter  Lippman,  Public  Opinion,  Ch.  XXV. 


282 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


not  be  doubted.  Here  the  training  in  science  will  be  of 
assistance  just  as  far  as  the  practice  is  accompanied  by 
sound  thinking  upon  the  general  ideal  involved,  and  by 
specific  applications  outside  of  the  science  room,  for  ex¬ 
ample,  in  the  history  or  civics  periods. 

The  clue  is  to  keep  in  the  foreground  the  ethical  function 
of  knowledge  as  the  instrument  of  human  welfare  and  the 
need  of  progress  toward  more  genuinely  human  living.  In¬ 
struction  in  the  sciences  should  therefore  be  correlated  with 
history  to  show  how  man’s  understanding  of  the  natural 
order  has  affected  his  health,  his  home-making,  his  indus¬ 
tries,  his  intercourse  with  fellow  beings  in  war  and  in  peace. 
Much  should  be  made  of  the  biographies  of  men  who  have 
contributed  to  the  sum  of  to-day’s  scientific  wisdom.  This 
is  important  in  order  that  pupils  may  appreciate  the  de¬ 
pendence  of  past  and  present  upon  the  efforts  of  those  who 
have  gone  before,  catch  the  inspiration  of  lives  dominated 
by  lofty  ideals,  profit  from  the  secret  of  their  success,  and 
remember  the  undying  contributions  of  the  heroes  of  peace. 
Although  warriors  undoubtedly  have  done  their  part  to 
benefit  mankind,  the  school  should  correct  false  notions  of 
the  supremacy  of  military,  or  even  political,  glory  by  em¬ 
phasizing  the  labors  of  science  in  the  elevation  of  man  from 
the  level  of  the  brute. 

A  partial  offset  to  the  readiness  with  which  science  lends 
itself  to  the  destructive  purposes  of  war  is  the  fact  that 
men  of  science  are  usually  among  the  first  to  recognize  the 
fact  of  international  interdependence.  One  of  the  earliest 
approaches  to  international  concord  after  the  World  War 
was  made  in  a  letter  sent  by  some  half  a  hundred  Oxford 
professors  and  doctors  to  German  and  Austrian  savants 
with  these  words: 

We  now  personally  approach  you  with  a  desire  to  dispel  the 
embitterment  of  animosities  that  under  the  impulse  of  loyal 
patriotism  may  have  passed  between  us.  In  the  field  where 


VALUES  IN  SCIENCE 


283 


our  aims  are  one,  our  enthusiasms  the  same  ...  we  can  surely 
look  to  be  reconciled;  and  the  fellowship  of  learning  offers  a 
road  which  may  .  .  .  lead  to  wider  sympathy  and  better  under¬ 
standing  between  our  kindred  nations. 

The  science  teacher  can  clarify  the  pupils’  understanding 
of  the  meaning  of  law.  The  sublimity  of  the  starry  heavens 
suggested  to  Immanuel  Kant  the  sublimity  of  man’s  moral 
being.  Great  care  should  be  exercised,  however,  against 
treating  human  life  as  if  it  were  wholly  subject  to  the  prin¬ 
ciples  found  valid  in  the  non-human  world.  Biology  affords 
a  case  in  point.  Much  mischief  results  from  regarding  man 
too  exclusively  as  the  kinsman  of  the  lower  orders.  In  his 
world,  for  example,  ‘‘the  struggle  for  existence”  and  “the 
survival  of  the  fittest”  should  possess  a  meaning  that  they 
cannot  have  in  the  realm  of  plant  and  animal  life,  that  is, 
fitness  to  survive  is  something  quite  other  than  moral  right 
to  survive.  Or,  to  take  another  illustration,  better  than 
“adjustment  to  environment”  as  an  aim  for  human  life 
is  the  exercise  of  man’s  capacity  to  protest  against  his 
environment,  if  need  be,  and  to  reshape  it  upon  ideal  lines. 
It  is  quite  possible  to  interpret  man  in  terms  of  his  likeness 
to  his  inferiors,  but  this  is  only  half  the  story.  The  other 
half,  infinitely  the  better  half,  is  the  tale  of  how  man  sur¬ 
passes,  and  ought  to  surpass,  plant  and  animal. 

Recognition  of  these  differences  should  not  be  left  to 
accident.  Man,  like  the  animal,  acts  upon  instinct,  but, 
unlike  the  lower  creatures,  he  can  be  taught  to  take  certain 
attitudes  toward  his  natural  proclivities.  Although  he, 
too,  for  instance,  has  his  physical  wants  like  hunger,  he 
can  be  taught  the  etiquette  of  the  table  and  other  codes 
of  decency.  Like  the  animal,  he  feels  the  call  to  preserve 
his  own  life ;  but  it  is  no  less  a  truth  that,  when  a  ship  is 
sinking,  right-minded  men  make  way  in  the  lifeboats  for 
women  and  children.  This  distinction  should  be  lifted  into 
a  place  of  primary  importance  in  the  teaching  scheme.  In 


284 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


view  of  the  tendency  of  our  day  to  stress  the  ‘  ‘  naturalness  ’  * 
of  man^s  impulses,  the  resultant  moral  damage  should  be 
forestalled  by  using  every  opportunity  to  emphasize  man’s 
power  to  control  his  instincts  by  his  reason  and  his  will. 

The  bearing  of  these  considerations  on  the  problem  of  sex 
morality  needs  special  attention.  That  the  task  of  helping 
to  reach  a  sounder  sex  morality  is  delicate  and  difficult 
does  not  mean  that  it  should  be  evaded.  Ideally,  the  home 
is  the  chief  place  for  such  assistance.  But  many  homes 
are  utterly  incompetent  to  give  it,  and  the  fathers  and 
mothers  who  are  to  teach  the  children  of  the  next  genera¬ 
tion  are  now  in  the  schools.  At  the  very  least,  the  schools 
can  supply  these  future  parents  with  a  clean  vocabulary  and 
with  certain  elementary  truths. 

Here  are  a  few  salient  facts : 

Sex  morality  is  a  larger  and  more  important  considera¬ 
tion  than  sex  hygiene.  Knowledge  of  the  latter  is  by  no 
means  synonymous  with  rectitude  in  the  former. 

Sex  hygiene  is  a  help  in  so  far  as  health  in  general  con¬ 
tributes  to  strength  of  will. 

Truthful  information  does  no  harm  when  it  is  given  at 
the  right  time  and  without  undue  emphasis. 

The  problem  of  sex  should  not  be  singled  out  for  isolated 
treatment.  This  method  is  too  likely  to  focus  a  damaging 
degree  of  young  people’s  attention  upon  this  side  of  their 
lives.  Instruction  had  best  be  incidental  to  instruction  in 
general  hygiene,  psychology,  ethics,  literature.  Matters 
that  the  teacher  is  reluctant  to  speak  of  before  a  whole 
class  can  often  be  imparted  indirectly  but  no  less  surely  by 
a  private  word  with  pupils  who  are  evidently  leaders  in 
their  groups. 

Self-control  in  sex  matters  can  be  helped  by  the  exercise 
of  self-control  in  every  other  respect. 

The  ultimate  safeguard  lies  less  in  fear  than  in  positive 


VALUES  IN  SCIENCE 


285 


ideals  of  self-control  as  a  means  to  true  self-expression. 
Everything  helps  that  encourages  the  sense  of  dignity  as 
linked  with  a  sense  of  privacy  and  decency.  Here  every 
agency  of  the  school  can  aid — the  literature  work,  for  exam¬ 
ple,  to  strengthen,  to  elevate  and  refine  the  sense  of  chiv¬ 
alry,  the  ethics  lessons  to  clarify  ideals  of  freedom  and  of 
responsibility  for  the  best  use  of  human  life. 

It  is  fallacious  to  hold  that  the  sex  impulse  is  like  any 
other  hunger  in  that  its  primary  purpose  must  always 
receive  gratification.  The  hunger  for  food  is  satisfied  only 
by  eating;  but  the  sex  hunger  can  be  sublimated,  that  is, 
it  can  be  directed  to  non-sexual  ends.  Artistic  creation  is 
one  such  outlet  ;  so  is  philanthropic  activity,  especially 
work  on  behalf  of  needy  children. 

It  is  unfair  to  let  the  individual  carry  the  burden  of 
control  entirely  alone.  His  environment  should  not  hinder ; 
it  should  offer  every  help.  Older  high-school  girls  need 
to  be  told  how  their  conduct,  for  example,  their  willingness 
to  let  themselves  be  cheapened,  makes  it  more  difficult  for 
young  men  to  keep  to  high  standards  (see  Dorothy  Can¬ 
field’s  The  Bent  Twig). 

Young  people  are  helped  by  forecasting  in  imagination 
the  time  when  they  will  have  children  of  their  own  to  look 
up  to  them.  It  is  not  enough  that  parents  be  free  from 
physical  taint.  The  ethical  function  of  marriage,  the 
enhancing  of  personality  in  the  parents  through  the  exer¬ 
cise  of  their  joint  responsibilities  toward  the  children,  will 
be  fulfilled  better  where  father  and  mother  can  regard 
each  other  with  a  growing  fine  respect.  On  this  topic,  con¬ 
sult  Felix  Adler,  Marriage  and  Divorce.^^ 

... _ iA _ _ _ _ _ 

17  See  T.  W.  Galloway,  Sex  Factor  in  Human  Life,  Ch.  IV. 

18  On  the  general  topic,  see  The  Social  Emergency,  edited  by  W.  T. 
Foster  (Houghton  Miflflin  Co.);  M.  A.  Bigelow,  Sex  Education; 
Durant  Drake,  Problems  of  Conduct,  Ch,  XVII;  T.  W.  Galloway, 
The  Sex  Factor  in  Human  Life;  Benjamin  Gruenberg,  “High  Schools 
and  Sex  Education,”  United  States  Public  Health  Service  (Govern* 


286 


EDUCATION  FOB  MORAL  GROWTH 


Questions  and  Peoblems 

1.  Report  on  the  extent  to  which  your  community  is  helped  by 
the  scientific  bulletins  issued  by  Federal  and  State  govern¬ 
ments. 

2.  What  opportunities  does  your  community  offer  for  the  use 
of  leisure  in  nature  study? 

3.  What  are  the  special  advantages  of  nature  study  to  city 
children  ? 

4.  Show  how  nature  study  can  be  correlated  with  home-making. 

5.  Read  Pasvolsky^s  “Civilization  and  Oil,”  Atlantic  Monthly, 
February,  1923,  and  report  on  its  suggestions  for  teachers  of 
science,  geography,  and  civics. 

6.  Select  three  outstanding  achievements  of  modern  science  and 
study  lives  of  persons  chiefiy  responsible. 

7.  Draw  up  a  list  of  facts  in  psychology  by  a  knowledge  of 
which  you  think  your  pupils  might  improve  their  self-mastery. 

8.  Summarize  the  objections  to  a  special  course  in  sex  hygiene 
and  sex  morality. 

9.  Give  your  views  on  the  advantages  and  disadvantages  of 
coeducation  (see  article  on  the  subject  in  Monroe^s  Cyclopedia 
of  Education  and  HalFs  Youth,  pp.  286-297). 

References 

See,  besides  references  quoted  in  text: 

Allen,  W.  H.,  Civics  and  Health, 

Bailey,  L.  H.,  The  Nature  Study  Idea. 

Caldwell,  0.  W.,  Science  Teaching  in  the  Gary  Public  Schools. 

Comstock,  A.  B.,  The  Pet  Book. 

Garret,  L.  B.,  Animal  Families  in  Schools  (Bureau  of  Educa¬ 
tional  Experiments,  New  York). 

McMurry,  C.  a..  Special  Method  in  Science. 

Monroe,  Paul,  Principles  of  Secondary  Education,  Ch.  XII. 

“Reorganization  of  Science  in  Secondary  Schools”  (Government 
Printing  Office). 

Twiss,  G.  R.,  Science  Teaching. 

WooDHULL,  J.  F.,  Teaching  of  Science. 


ment  Printing  Office,  Washington,  D.  C.)  (contains  bibliography); 
F.  W.  Foerster,  Marriage  and  the  Sex  Problem j  I.  S.  Wile,  Sex 
Education. 


VALUES  IN  HOUSEHOLD  ARTS  287 

Woodcraft  Manuals,  Woodcraft  League  of  America,  New  York 
City. 

See  also  the  References  for  Chapter  VII. 

VIII.  Household  Arts 

In  the  earlier  years,  the  ethical  value  in  household  occu¬ 
pations  is  not  so  much  that  the  children  consciously  prepare 
for  later  home-making  of  their  own.  It  is  rather  that  they 
^  learn  to  cooperate  in  certain  present  activities  of  home  and 
school,  for  example,  dishwashing,  sewing,  providing  refresh¬ 
ments  for  class  parties,  bazaars,  etc.,  and  that  they  are 
helped  to  vivify  their  acquaintance  with  history  through 
reproducing  home-making  activities  of  the  past,  for  ex¬ 
ample,  making  bayberry  candles,  dyeing  wool  red  with 
sumach  berries,  or  making  lye  from  wood  ashes.  There  was 
a  time  when  the  school  had  no  need  to  give  instruction  in 
household  matters,  as  these  were  looked  after  by  the  home. 
To-day  many  a  community  must  make  such  provision  in  the 
schools.  Too  many  children  in  the  modern  city  get  an 
utterly  false  notion  of  life  from  the  ease  with  which  their 
wants  are  satisfied.  They  have  no  sense  of  the  labor  it  takes 
to  produce  things,  when  they  can  get  them  by  simply  going 
to  the  store  or  using  the  telephone.  It  is  only  when  they 
make  objects  themselves  that  they  reach  any  real  sense  of 
the  human  labor  required  to  keep  their  needs  supplied. 

Household  activities  offer  a  further  help  in  that  they  in¬ 
troduce  the  pupil  to  many  a  question  of  hygienic  living. 
Again  we  must  note  that  though  many  homes  are  quite 
competent  to  instruct  their  children  here,  vast  numbers  of 
other  pupils  must  turn  for  this  purpose  to  the  school. 
Temperance,  balanced  diet,  the  difference  between  whole¬ 
some  and  unwholesome  foods,  cleanliness,  beauty,  etc.,  are 
some  of  the  considerations  that  need  specific  teaching. 

As  the  pupils  reach  the  upper  grades  and  high  school, 
the  idea  of  definite  preparation  for  the  making  of  homes 


288 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


should  be  brought  to  their  notice.  Morally  important  as  it 
always  is  to  learn  to  do  one’s  work  well,  it  is  especially  so 
in  home-making.  So  greatly  does  human  welfare,  in  every 
sense  from  the  lowest  to  the  highest,  depend  upon  the  effi¬ 
ciency  and  the  moral  atmosphere  of  the  home  that  special 
attention  to  its  many  problems  is  of  the  utmost  necessity. 
Under  our  present  economic  life,  the  maker  of  a  home  needs 
a  more  extended  training  than  in  former  times ;  she  needs 
an  insight  into  problems  of  to-day  and  a  command  of  the 
best  methods  available  through  modern  science. 

The  paramount  concern  of  a  good  home  should  be  the 
personality  which  it  is  to  develop  in  all  its  members.  A 
home  is  something  more  than  a  place  for  bodily  care  of  the 
young.  Therefore,  physical  well-being,  comfort,  refinement, 
beauty,  should  all  be  valued  in  the  light  of  their  contribu¬ 
tion  to  growth  of  character  in  both  parents  and  children. 

The  housekeeper  who  employs  labor  can  be  helped  into 
a  better  relationship  toward  her  employees  by  first-hand 
knowledge  of  what  their  work  necessitates.  She  is  immeas¬ 
urably  more  fitted  to  appreciate  their  service  if  she  herself 
has  done  housework;  she  is  more  likely  to  want  her  chil¬ 
dren  also  to  show  such  comprehension.  Besides,  much  fric¬ 
tion  can  be  avoided  and  the  general  tone  of  the  home  raised 
by  sensible  management  of  its  numerous  tasks.  There  are 
many  households  which  still  need  the  shrewd  advice  offered 
in  that  picture  of  the  De  Coverley  home  where  Sir  Roger’s 
wise  economies  “made  his  mind  untroubled  and  conse¬ 
quently  unapt  to  vent  peevish  expressions  or  give  passion¬ 
ate  or  inconsistent  orders  to  those  about  him.” 

The  following  suggestions  will  indicate  how  a  course  in 
household  arts  may  be  made  rich  in  content  of  distinct 
ethical  value : 

19  Consult  Willystine  Goodsell,  The  Family  as  a  Social  and  Edu¬ 
cational  Institution;  A.  G.  Spencer,  Women^s  Share  in  Social  Cul¬ 
ture;  E.  J.  Putnam,  The  Lady. 


VALUES  IN  HOUSEHOLD  ARTS 


289 


The  home  in  history.  Study  the  functions  of  the  home 
in  the  progress  of  mankind.  Compare  the  home  with  even 
the  best-equipped  orphan  asylum  in  the  matter  of  develop¬ 
ing  individual  aptitudes.  The  teacher  has  an  excellent 
chance  to  introduce  the  older  pupils  to  sound  ideals  of 
marriage  by  emphasizing  the  fact  that  the  joint  care  of 
their  children  is  the  best  means  for  both  father  and  mother 
to  develop  their  own  personalities.  Lax  notions  of  marital 
responsibility  are  best  countered  by  these  pictures  of  what 
the  marriage  relation  means  at  its  highest.^® 

Social  forces  affecting  the  home.  Consider  how  home  life 
is  affected  for  better  or  worse  by  urbanization,  commer¬ 
cialized  recreation,  etc. 

The  responsibility  of  the  consumer.  The  eagerness  to 
follow  any  fashion  so  long  as  it  is  new  plays  a  part  in  the 
dislocation  of  industry,  helps  to  create  seasons  of  unem¬ 
ployment,  and  encourages  the  making  of  commodities  which 
wear  out  quickly.  The  work  of  consumers’  leagues,  child- 
labor  committees,  etc.,  may  be  studied  to  advantage. 

Cooperative  societies  in  America  and  abroad.  Pupils 
should  know  something  of  what  is  being  done  by  consum¬ 
ers  ’  cooperative  societies,  not  only  to  meet  the  cost  of  living, 
but  even  more  to  teach  important  truths  about  the  con¬ 
sumer’s  relation  to  society 

Extravagance  and  thrift.  Temperance  is  not  exclusively 
a  matter  of  men’s  refraining  from  alcoholic  stimulants. 
Women  and  children  may  be  intemperate  in  their  demands 
for  sweets,  for  ornament,  for  recreation. 

Beauty.  How  distinguished  from  luxury  ?  22  ^  home 

made  beautiful  is  simply  a  home  arrayed  in  the  setting  de- 

-  --  -  -  - -  -  —  -  * 

20  Felix  Adler,  Marriage  and  Divorce j  Gustav  Spiller,  The  Mean¬ 
ing  of  Marriage. 

21  For  information,  address  Cooperative  League  of  America,  167 
West  12tli  Street,  New  York. 

**  For  moral  value  of  beauty  see  pp.  2Q2ff. 


290 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


served  by  the  ideal  for  which  it  stands.  Luxury  is  indul¬ 
gence  in  excessive  comfort  or  in  mere  display  of  wealth. 
Beauty  stimulates;  luxury  enervates. 

Health  problems  may  be  treated  in  correlation  with 
biology  and  physical  culture.  The  opportunities  for  the 
discussion  of  such  matters  as  self-control  lie  upon  the  sur¬ 
face.  The  matter  of  teaching  sex  hygiene  has  already  been 
discussed. 

Questions  and  Problems 

1.  What  light  does  Dorothy  Canfield’s  novel,  The  Squirrel 
Cage,  throw  upon  the  aims  of  many  such  households?  Ard 
the  same  failures  found  in  the  homes  of  poorer  people? 

2.  Is  it  wise  to  anticipate  the  future  experiences  of  high-school 
and  college  students  by  discussing  the  ethics  of  marriage  and 
divorce  ? 

3.  How  much  of  your  course  in  the  normal  school  would  you 
recommend  for  all  girls  in  high  school  and  college? 

4.  Turn  back  to  Chapter  VIII  and  show  the  relation  of  home¬ 
making  to  other  vocations.  What  does  this  tell  about  oppor¬ 
tunities  for  ^^culture”? 

5.  On  what  principles  do  you  distinguish  between  luxury  and 
simple  living? 

6.  Read  Income  in  the  United  States,  National  Bureau  of  Eco¬ 
nomics  Research  (Harcourt,  Brace  &  Co.).  Discuss  its 
conception  of  “the  American  standard  of  living.”  What 
problems  are  set  by  the  fact  that  about  ten  per  cent  of  our 
population  receive  less  than  the  minimum  necessary  for  bare 
subsistence  ? 

7.  “No  girl  in  an  office  is  half  so  necessary  there  as  is  the  suc¬ 
cessful  girl  in  the  home.”  Explain  why  many  girls  fail  to 
see  this.  How  can  teachers  help  them  to  see? 

8.  Dress  should  be  beautiful,  but  this  means  that  it  must 
sometimes  be  unfashionable.  Discuss  the  ethical  principle 
which  needs  to  be  brought  home  here. 

9.  Read  Pestalozzi’s  How  Gertrude  Teaches  Her  Children. 
How  much  of  what  is  there  presented  is  pertinent  to-day? 

10.  What  things  taught  in  modern  schools,  for  example,  dra¬ 
matics,  will  help  future  home-makers  provide  for  their  chil¬ 
dren’s  recreations?  For  their  children’s  other  needs? 


VALUES  IN  MATHEMATICS 


291 


11.  Discuss  in  the  light  of  the  foregoing  the  complaint  that  “the 
schools  have  been  asked  to  take  over  the  entire  moral,  intel¬ 
lectual  and  aesthetic  training  of  the  child.’^ 

References 

See,  besides  references  quoted  in  text: 

Allen,  A.  W.,  Home^  School  and  Vacation, 

Cooley,  A.  M.,  Marshall,  J.  A.,  Spohr,  W.  H.,  W1NCHELI4 
C.  M.,  Teaching  Home  Economics. 

Douglas,  P.  and  D.,  “What  Can  a  Man  Afford?’^,  American 
Economic  Review,  December,  1921. 

Goodsell,  Willystine,  The  Education  of  Women. 
“Reorganization  of  Home  Economies  in  Secondary  Education” 
(Government  Printing  Office). 

Richards,  E.  H.,  Euthenics. 

Richardson,  B.  I.,  The  Woman  Who  Spends. 

Spencer,  A.  G.,  The  Family  and  Its  Members. 

Strong,  A.  G.,  “Household  Arts”  in  Monroe,  Principles  of 
Secondary  Education,  Ch.  XVI. 

Talbot,  Marion,  The  Education  of  Women. 

UrwicH,  E.  J.,  Luxury  and  Waste  of  Life. 

Veblen,  Thorstein,  Theory  of  the  Leisure  Class, 

Withers,  Hartley,  Poverty  and  Waste. 

IX.  Mathematics 

‘  ‘  There  have  been  elaborate  articles  written  to  show  that 
the  proper  study  of  arithmetic  has  an  ethical  value,  though 
exactly  what  there  is  in  the  subject  to  make  us  treat  our 
neighbor  better,  it  is  a  little  difficult  to  say.  ’  ’ 

This  is  a  useful  reminder  that  the  richest  material  for 
ethical  instruction  will  always  be  found  where  concrete 
cases  of  human  bad  and  good,  better  and  best,  are  dealt 
with.  It  is,  however,  a  quite  narrow  view  of  the  ethical 
life  to  limit  its  meaning  to  kindness  toward  neighbors.  As 
these  pages  have  tried  to  show,  ethical  conduct  is  a  much 

23  D.  E.  Smith,  “The  Teaching  of  Arithmetic,”  Teachers*  College 
Record,  January,  1909,  p.  4. 


292 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


larger  affair.  It  is  a  matter  of  trying  to  make  the  best  of 
one’s  life  by  trying  to  better  all  one’s  relationships.  Any¬ 
thing,  therefore,  that  helps  human  beings  to  make  a  wiser 
use  of  their  powers  has  ethical  value,  and  arithmetical 
ability  is  no  exception.  Arithmetic  is  a  tool  to  be  employed 
whenever,  instead  of  contenting  ourselves  with  a  vague 
*‘more”  or  ^‘less,  ”  we  desire  an  exact  statement  of  quan¬ 
tity.  It  thus  has  its  help  to  offer  to  right  living  wherever 
the  problems  of  right  living  demand  such  accurate  infor¬ 
mation.  Thrift  and  wise  spending,  for  instance,  need  exact 
computation ;  and  for  such  purposes  the  school  should  pro¬ 
vide  the  necessary  instruments  in  arithmetical  skill  and  the 
knowledge  of  arithmetical  processes.  Much  can  also  be 
done  by  making  real  to  children  the  human  values  behind 
such  terms  as,  for  example,  budgets  and  taxes.  A  study  of 
home  budgets  with  reference  to  reasons  why  parents  must 
provide  for  rent,  insurance,  medical  care,  and  the  other 
items  may  help  to  interpret  to  children  some  of  the  diffi¬ 
culties  their  homes  must  meet,  the  need  of  economy  and  the 
need  of  cooperation  for  this  purpose.  Not  saving  for  its 
own  sake  but  saving  for  wiser  expenditure  should  be  the 
leading  thought.  This  is  equally  true  of  city,  state,  and 
national  budgets.  What  is  the  cost  of  a  $40,000,000  battle¬ 
ship  translated  into  terms  of  the  cost,  let  us  say,  of  build¬ 
ing  and  maintaining  schools  ? 

Civics,  history,  geography,  science  may  all  be  drawn 
upon,  and,  in  turn,  be  illuminated,  by  the  teacher  of  arith¬ 
metic.  Statistics  of  population,  immigration,  industry,  con¬ 
servation,  the  cost  of  crime  and  of  war,  can  be  used  to  light 
up  many  an  important  public  problem.  The  report  of  the 
United  States  Geological  Survey,  for  example,  on  the  waste 
in  our  present  method  of  mining  and  distributing  coal 
should  be  known  to  every  citizen. 

In  general,  pupils  should  also  be  taught  something  of  the 
ethics  of  statistical  argument.  All  of  us  need  to  be  cau- 


VALUES  IN  MATHEMATICS 


293 


tioned  against  statistics  that  are  so  selected  as  to  be  partly 
true  but  essentially  misleading. 

On  the  formal  side,  the  disciplinary  value  of  arithmetic 
and  the  other  mathematical  studies  is  less  taken  for  granted 
to-day  than  it  was  in  earlier  times.  We  must  guard  against 
supposing  that  the  training  in  accuracy,  concentration, 
reliance  upon  one  ^s  own  correct  reasoning,  etc.,  will  of  itseK 
always  carry  over  into  like  habits  elsewhere.  Habits  are 
mainly  specific ;  and  just  as  right  practices  in  language  are 
fostered  when  the  mathematics  teacher  shares  the  respon¬ 
sibility  for  them  with  his  colleague  in  the  English  room,  so 
the  aptitudes  encouraged  by  training  in  mathematics  are 
more  likely  to  be  effective  in  other  fields  when  all  the  other 
teachers  cooperate.  The  special  help  of  the  mathematics 
instructor  lies  in  clarifying  the  ideals  behind  the  training 
acquired  in  his  room. 

To  those  who  can  be  brought  to  care  for  such  an  oppor¬ 
tunity,  it  offers  a  training  in  working  out  the  relationships 
of  generalized  entities.  The  best  teachers  of  mathematics 
will  seek  to  have  their  pupils  feel  as  early  as  possible  the 
beauty  to  be  discerned  in  ^^a  universum  of  exact  thought, 
an  everlasting  cosmos  of  ordered  ideas,  a  stable  world  of 
concatenated  truth.  ’  ’  Students  should  appreciate  more¬ 
over,  how  indispensable  a  contribution  this  subject  has  made 
and  is  still  making  to  science  and  invention.  The  title 
^‘mother  of  the  sciences”  is  no  misnomer.  Both  the  direct 
and  indirect  services  have  been  invaluable.  Mathematics 
has  not  only  offered  essential  tools  to  the  chemist,  astron¬ 
omer,  physicist,  and  social  scientist;  it  has  ‘‘supplied  kin¬ 
dred  interests  of  thought  with  a  standard  of  clarity,  rigor 
and  certitude.”^®  The  attention  of  more  advanced  stu¬ 
dents  may  be  called  to  such  significant  attempts  as  Spinoza’s 
to  base  a  system  of  ethics  on  the  principles  of  geometric 

24  c.  J.  Keyser,  The  Human  Worth  of  Rigorous  Thinking ^  p.  34. 
p.  309. 


294  EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


necessity.  In  general,  the  distinctly  ethical  service  of 
mathematics  may  be  said  to  be  its  helping  ns  ‘‘to  think 
rigorously  whatever  is  rigorously  thinkable  or  whatever 
may  become  rigorously  thinkable  in  the  course  of  the  up¬ 
ward  striving  and  refining  evolution  of  ideas.  ^ 

What  has  been  said  elsewhere  with  regard  to  the  study 
of  history  and  biographies  in  other  subjects  applies  also 
here.  Pupils  are  often  led  to  take  a  new  interest  in  mathe¬ 
matics  when  they  realize  that  their  textbook  represents 
the  cumulative  contributions  of  lofty  natures  from  India, 
Arabia,  Egypt,  Greece  and  modern  lands.  It  is  well  to 
know  something  about  Thales,  Plato,  Euclid,  Archimedes, 
about  the  founder  of  the  Pythagorean  fellowship,  and  the 
moderns  from  Descartes  on. 

By  explaining  the  crude  ideas  of  remote  antiquity,  tracing  the 
gradual  discovery  of  new  facts,  naming  the  great  masters  in  the 
roll  of  mathematicians  and  the  most  important  of  their  discoveries, 
it  is  possible  to  give  most  students  a  greater  sympathy  for  the 
search  for  truth,  and  a  broader  view  of  mathematics  as  a  body 
of  knowledge  which  has  been  acquired  by  long  and  arduous  labor, 
and  is  constantly  being  enlarged.^’^ 

Questions  and  Problems 

1.  What  is  the  ethical  value  in  cultivating  habits  of  mathematical 
accuracy  ? 

2.  Would  you  recommend  that  time  be  given  to  lessons  on  sound 
and  unsound  investments? 

3.  Would  you  recommend  to  parents  that  children  be  given 
a  regular  weekly  allowance  of  spending  money? 

4.  Examine  textbooks  in  arithmetic  to  see  how  many  problems 
are  concerned  with  other  than  commercial  transactions. 

References 

See,  besides  references  quoted  in  text: 

Dewey,  John,  and  McLellan,  J.  A.,  The  Psychology  of  Number. 

26  Ibid.,  p.  3.  ~~ 

27  “Course  of  Study  in  Mathematics,”  Ethical  Culture  School. 


VALUES  IN  PHYSICAL  EDUCATION  295 


Hall,  G.  S.,  Educational  Problems,  Vol.  II,  Ch.  XVIII. 

Judd,  C.  H.,  Psychology  of  High  School  Subjects,  Ch.  II 
Kirkpatrick,  J.  A.,  The  Use  of  Money. 

Klapper,  Paul,  The  Teaching  of  Arithmetic. 

“The  Problem  of  Mathematics  in  Secondary  Education”  (Govern¬ 
ment  Printing  Office). 

Smith,  D.  E.,  The  Teaching  of  Elementary  Mathematics. 

Wilson,  G.  M.,  Survey  of  Social  and  Business  Use  of  Arithmetic, 
Teachers^  College  Contributions,  No.  100. 

X.  Physical  Education 

Although  some  gifted  persons  may  possess  strong  wills 
in  spite  of  weak  bodies,  for  most  people  physical  and  moral 
vigor  are  likely  to  be  connected  intimately.  Johnson’s 
remark  that  the  sick  man  is  a  scoundrel  is  borne  out  by 
innumerable  instances  where  irritability,  gross  indolence, 
exaggerated  fears,  and  other  indications  of  weak  will  may 
be  traced  to  poor  health.  Other  things  being  equal,  boys 
and  girls  will  bring  to  their  tasks  minds  more  alert,  spirits 
more  cheerful,  and  wills  more  energetic  if  their  bodies  are 
sound.  Particularly  in  adolescence  many  are  apt  to  enter¬ 
tain  morbid  fears  which  better  health  can  do  far  more  to 
banish  than  continued  exhortations  to  cheer  up  and  be 
brave.  The  same  may  be  said  of  other  nervous  disorders. 
Frequently  they  require  most  of  all  a  proper  physical 
regimen. 

The  means  at  our  disposal  are  hygienic  surroundings, 
instruction  in  hygiene,  the  inspiration  afforded  by  ideals  of 
self-control,  gymnastics,  including  calisthenics  and  folk 
dancing,  and  athletics.  Instead  of  being  interested  chiefly 
in  training  select  teams,  the  best  schools  will  see  that  every 
pupil  is  encouraged  to  participate  in  athletic  pursuits. 

The  moral  values  in  athletics  are  abundant.  Even  a 
single  reason  like  the  contribution  to  clean  recreation  would 
justify  the  importance  attached  to  this  activity.  Warning 
must  be  sounded  against  excessive  eagerness  to  score  a  repu- 


296 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


tation  for  victories.  The  ethical  aim  is  to  cultivate  the 
spirit  of  teamwork,  and  especially  of  honorable  rivalry, 
with  all  that  this  implies  of  fair  play,  courtesy,  and  gen¬ 
erosity  both  in  victory  and  in  defeat. 

In  gymnastics  much  can  be  done  to  instil  habits  of  in¬ 
stant,  voluntary  control  and  discipline  in  obedience  to 
orders.  Without  the  corrective  supplied  by  free  coopera¬ 
tion  in  sports,  gymnastics  on  a  large  scale  might  perhaps 
simply  inculcate  habits  of  automatic  obedience  which  are 
hardly  consistent  with  the  ideals  of  democracy.  The  value 
of  the  combination  lies  in  the  fact  that  both  types  of  team¬ 
work  are  needed,  each  in  its  special  place.  There  are  occa¬ 
sions,  for  example,  on  an  alarm  of  fire,  when  it  is  essential 
that  whole  groups  respond  implicitly  and  instantly  to  sharp 
commands  from  those  in  authority.  There  are  other  occa¬ 
sions,  for  example,  a  civic  reform,  where  the  freer  type  of 
teamwork  is  required.  In  both  cases  what  is  needed  is  not 
only  the  practice  but  that  conscious,  intelligent  grasping 
of  the  ideal  to  which  reference  has  been  made  in  these  pages 
many  times. 

For  the  timid  natures  both  gymnastics  and  athletics 
afford  excellent  means  of  developing  self-confidence.  Boys 
and  girls  are  often  helped  in  this  regard,  not  simply  be¬ 
cause  of  improved  health,  but  because  of  the  self-trust 
inspired  by  the  consciousness  of  having  overcome  difficul¬ 
ties  once  feared. 


Questions  and  Problems 

1.  Comenius  said  that  children  should  be  trained  early  in 
“temperance’^;  and  he  was  not  thinking  of  alcoholic  drinks. 
Was  the  word  well  used? 

2.  Consult  Cannon’s  The  Bodily  Changes  in  Pain,  Hunger, 
Fear,  and  Rage.  What  suggestions  does  it  offer  for  a 
course  in  self-discipline  ? 

3.  Make  a  list  of  a  dozen  games  in  the  order  of  young  people’s 
fondness  for  them.  Point  out  the  values  in  each. 


VALUES  IN  PHYSICAL  EDUCATION  297 


4.  What  can  America  learn  from  the  athletic  practices  of 
ancient  Athens?  What  from  the  practice  of  English  schools? 
See  chapter  on  the  latter  subject  in  Conover’s  Personality  in 
Education. 

5.  Do  you  know  instances  where  traits  developed  in  athletic 
pursuits  were  not  carried  over  to  other  activities?  Explain 
the  reasons. 

6.  Consult  parents  as  to  the  hurtful  effects  of  excessive  home¬ 
work.  Why  is  the  parent’s  viewpoint  in  such  cases  apt 
to  be  wiser  than  that  of  the  ordinary  teacher? 

7.  Why  do  some  courses  in  gymnastics  repel  the  pupils?  How 
can  this  difficulty  be  met? 

8.  What  opportunities  for  supervised  recreation  are  provided  by 
your  community? 

9.  Do  you  notice  in  your  pupils  any  effects  of  the  commercializ¬ 
ing  of  athletics  in  our  country?  How  can  these  effects  be 
avoided  ? 

10.  Why  is  it  better  to  stress  the  positive  benefits  of  hygienic 
living  than  to  play  upon  fears  of  the  bad  results  of  failure? 

References 

Allen,  W.  H.,  Civics  and  Health. 

Andress,  J.  M.,  Teaching  of  Hygiene  in  the  Grades. 

Curtis,  H.  S.,  Education  for  Play. 

Johnson,  G.  E.,  Education  by  Plays  and  Games. 

Lee,  Joseph,  Play  in  Education. 

Monroe,  Paul,  Principles  of  Secondary  Education,  Ch.  XVIII. 

“Physical  Education  in  Secondary  Schools”  (Government  Print¬ 
ing  Office). 

Rapeer,  L.  W.,  Educational  Hygiene. 

Sies,  a.  C.,  Spontaneous  and  Supervised  Play  in  Childhood. 

Terman,  L.  M.,  Hygiene  of  the  School  Child. 


CHAPTER  XIV 


NATIVE  AND  ACQUIRED  PROMPTINGS 

To  quicken  the  better  sentiments  and  get  the  types  of 
behavior  we  have  been  considering,  to  what  native  tend¬ 
encies  shall  we  appeal?  No  man  is  able  to  say  just  why, 
in  the  last  analysis,  human  beings  in  a  given  situation 
choose  one  line  of  conduct  rather  than  another.  In  our 
pupils  as  in  ourselves  there  is  a  welter  of  motives,  some 
quite  admirable,  others  much  less  so.  Our  task  as  teachers 
is  not  always  simple.  On  the  one  hand,  we  must  avoid 
appealing  to  motives  that  are  so  far  beyond  the  range  of 
our  young  people  that  nothing  results  but  weariness  on 
their  part,  or  what  is  worse,  cant  and  self-deception.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  higher  powers  are  likely  to  atrophy 
from  failure  to  call  upon  them,  and  it  is  in  the  spirit  of 
our  motives,  rather  than  in  the  number  of  overt  perform¬ 
ances,  that  moral  excellence  resides.  In  general,  there¬ 
fore,  it  would  seem  wisest  to  appeal  unfailingly  to  the 
highest  levels,  to  reinforce  the  better  motives  where  neces¬ 
sary  by  appeals  to  the  other  kind,  and  to  try  always  to 
have  our  pupils  understand,  as  far  as  they  can,  the  differ¬ 
ence  between  the  two  sorts.  In  the  main,  the  difference  is 
that  the  lower  motives  do  not  represent  a  deliberate  choice 
of  the  right  as  such.  Their  activity  either  is  subconscious, 
or,  where  it  is  more  clearly  apprehended,  it  is  prudential 
rather  than  ethical.  Since  high  and  low  both  play  their 
part  in  the  actual  conduct  of  life,  it  is  well,  therefore,  to 
survey  all  of  these  many  resources  in  their  turn. 

First,  however,  there  are  a  few  general  considerations 

298 


NATIVE  AND  ACQUIRED  PROMPTINGS  299 

that  apply  to  both  the  higher  and  the  lower  types.  Positive 
suggestions,  for  instance,  are  always  better  than  negative. 
The  ethical  life  is  not  a  life  of  ‘‘donTs,”  but  a  life  of 
power  put  forth  to  reach  positive  objects.  Thus  a  desire 
to  hold  a  job  and  to  excel  in  it  will  do  more  to  make  a  lad 
discipline  himself  than  a  hundred  warnings  by  his  parents 
about  courses  from  which  he  must  abstain.  The  more 
finely  he  conceives  his  vocation,  the  more  positive  will  be 
the  excellences  in  which  he  will  want  to  train  himself. 

In  like  manner,  a  high  expectation  is  usually  more  cer¬ 
tain  to  call  forth  a  proper  response  than  is  the  resort  to 
rebuke.  We  all  tend  more  or  less  to  become  what  others 
expect  us  to  be.  The  lad  who  gets  on  his  mother’s  nerves 
because  ‘‘she  always  has  to  scold  him”  may  possibly  be 
what  he  is  precisely  because  of  the  attitude  betokened  by 
her  complaint.  She  has  probably  gotten  into  the  habit  of 
noting  every  single  misdeed  and  so  is  continually  suggest¬ 
ing  to  him  that  he  misbehave.  He  surprises  her  by  his 
better  conduct  elsewhere,  but  it  is  probable  that  there  it  is 
taken  for  granted  that  he  will  comport  himself  becomingly. 
Just  as  Nelson’s  “England  expects  every  man  to  do  his 
duty”  brought  out  the  hero  in  every  sailor  in  the  fleet,  so 
the  quiet  confidence  that  we  show  in  young  people ’s  better 
capacities  will  help  to  bring  them  forth.  In  this  respect, 
teachers  have  much  to  learn  from  the  success  of  mission 
workers  in  rescuing  the  fallen. 

Suggestions  come  with  greatest  force  from  those  who  are 
already  admired  or  respected.  Besides,  only  a  constant 
play  of  better  suggestion  is  of  any  value.  The  experience 
of  advertisers  that  their  suggestions  must  be  continuously 
repeated  is  a  warning  against  reliance  upon  a  few  inspiring 
talks. 

Suggestibility  is  dependent  also  upon  the  proper  atmos¬ 
phere.  The  same  ideas  can  often  be  conveyed  in  moods  of 
^alm  that  a  mind  occupied  with  other  considerations  will 


300 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


reject.  For  this  reason,  the  quiet  of  the  church  service, 
the  silent  impressiveness  of  a  stately  ceremony,  or  the 
appeal  of  music  all  help.  A  brief  word  in  the  assembly, 
before  the  day  ^s  work  is  begun,  will  often  be  found  to  have 
less  obstacles  to  overcome  than  a  more  forceful  exhortation 
delivered  at  a  time  when  the  mind  is  bristling  with  more 
or  less  hostile  preoccupations.  And  there  is  no  doubt  that 
many  an  indirect  suggestion  will  carry  over  where  direct 
appeal  is  resisted.  Do  we  not  all  know  the  moods  in  which 
we  rebel  at  the  idea  that  another  person  can  advise  us  as 
well  as  we  ourselves  ?  Then  somewhere  the  very  idea  which 
we  rejected  is  gently  dropped  into  the  dim  background  of 
our  consciousness  without  our  being  aware  of  the  fact,  and 
we  act  it  out  and  fancy  ourselves  to  have  originated  it. 

Undoubtedly  there  is  much  in  a  strategy  of  this  sort  that 
will  be  found  useful.  The  Freudians,  too,  have  something 
to  offer  in  their  reminder  to  lessen  wherever  we  can  the 
possibilities  of  conflicting  desire.  To  get  the  best  motives 
operative  with  as  little  friction  as  possible  is  by  all  means 
common  sense. 

Nevertheless,  all  these  indirect  approaches  are  quite 
limited  in  their  usefulness.  They  call  only  upon  the  lower 
order  of  will.  They  are  avowedly  used  to  save  people  the 
need  of  deliberate  self-direction.  The  skilled  nurse  does 
not  ask  an  enfeebled  patient  what  he  wants  for  dinner,  but 
spares  him  the  effort  of  choice  by  presenting  her  own  selec¬ 
tion  in  the  most  appetizing  way.  Under  the  circumstances, 
this  method  is  quite  justified.  But  it  would  scarcely  be 
recommended  if  the  aim  were  what  it  is  in  the  education 
of  the  normal  person,  the  strengthening  of  the  will.  What 
substitute  can  there  be  here  for  the  exercise  of  conscious 
volition  ?  Far  worse  than  to  be  bored  in  one 's  youth  is  to 
be  exposed  all  one’s  life  to  the  mercy  of  whatever  sugges¬ 
tions  are  presented  attractively  enough. 

Here  we  are  confronted  again  with  the  problem  of  the 


NATIVE  AND  ACQUIRED  PROMPTINGS  301 

nature  and  the  place  of  voluntary  effort.  Thanks  to  the 
assaults  by  the  Pragmatist  school  upon  the  old  type  of 
drudgery  and  thanks  to  the  correctives  offered  by  the  expe¬ 
rience  of  others  who  have  tried  the  Pragmatist  methods, 
the  road  ahead  is  now  reasonably  clear.  The  way  to  train 
will-power  is  neither  to  make  school  work  easy  nor  to  pro¬ 
vide  meaningless  hardship,  but  rather  to  have  the  children 
attack  their  difficulties  with  a  real  conviction  that  the  effort 
involved  is  worth  their  while.  Nobody  ever  drudges  for 
the  sheer  sake  of  working  hard.  Those  who  were  perma¬ 
nently  benefited  by  the  old-fashioned  discipline  were  the 
selected  minority  who  showed  by  their  survival  that  these 
methods  were  either  specially  adapted  to  their  tougher 
fibre  or  that  they  themselves  were  able  to  put  enough  will 
of  their  own  into  the  disagreeable  tasks  to  win  this  by¬ 
product  of  further  strength.  Mechanical  performance 
never  educates,  no  matter  how  often  it  is  repeated.  Effort 
strengthens  only  when  it  is  put  forth  whole-heartedly ;  and 
this  happens  when  w’e  know  that,  howsoever  distasteful  it 
may  be  in  itself,  it  leads  to  something  for  which  we  really 
care — for  example,  we  may  study  our  mathematics  to  get 
into  college — or  when  we  feel  it  to  be  good  in  itself — for 
example,  solve  a  puzzle  for  the  sheer  delight  of  mastering  it. 

Hence  the  wisdom  of  the  present-day  insistence  upon 
eliminating  the  mechanical  grind  in  which  the  class  can  see 
nothing  of  either  this  direct  or  indirect  value.  Hence 
also,  the  positive  good  in  utilizing  for  educational  pur¬ 
poses  those  interests  that  the  older  pedagogy  scored  as 
sinful.  In  short,  the  upshot  of  the  ‘‘interest-effort^^  con¬ 
troversy  is  that  it  is  best  not  to  turn  school  work  into  play 
but  to  select  the  educational  material  and  methods  that  call 
out  the  utmost  of  the  child’s  voluntary  assent  in  his  own 
training  and,  where  the  child  encounters  the  disagreeable 
stretches,  to  keep  before  him  those  positive  aims  of  his  own 
which  will  spur  him  to  overcome  the  hardships  willingly. 


302  EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


We  come  here  to  the  central  problem  of  deliberate  choices. 
If  our  pupils  are  to  advance  morally,  they  must  knowingly 
choose  higher  aims  than  they  already  accept.  But  their 
higher  wants  will  be  called  into  play  only  as  these  are  in 
some  fashion  linked  up  with  wants  already  operative.  Does 
this  view  condemn  us  to  fatalism?  The  facts  reassure  us. 
First,  we  never  can  tell  what  moral  efforts  our  pupils  are 
capable  of  until  we  have  tried  and  tried  over  and  again. 
Until  Dr.  Seguin  found  that  there  was  a  way  to  wake  up 
the  undeveloped  brain  by  educating  the  muscles,  every¬ 
body  was  convinced  that  any  improvement  of  the  feeble¬ 
minded  was  hopeless.  Let  this  warn  us  against  assuming 
that  our  pupils  are  incapable  of  moral  growth.  We  never 
can  really  know  whether  our  failures  are  due  to  the  children 
or  to  our  own  inability  to  find  suitable  methods.  Second,  we 
may  find  encouragement  in  the  fact  that,  as  a  matter  of 
experience,  people  can  and  do  grow  better,  and,  third,  that 
within  the  stock  of  native  endowments  there  are  to  be  found 
tendencies  and  desires  which  a  wise  education  will  seek  out 
in  order  to  work  them  over  into  moral  growth.  ‘‘Take 
away  these  instinctive  dispositions  with  their  powerful  im¬ 
pulses,  and  the  organism  would  ...  lie  inert  and  motion¬ 
less  like  a  wonderful  clockwork  whose  mainspring  had  been 
removed  or  a  steam-engine  whose  fires  had  been  drawn.’^^ 

These  we  shall  now  consider.  It  will  help  us  to  try  to 
classify  them  even  though,  because  there  are  so  many  of 
them,  and  because  in  the  actual  conduct  of  life,  different 
sorts  are  so  intertwined,  it  is  impossible  to  offer  a  classi¬ 
fication  which  will  satisfy  everybody.  Endless  ink  has 
flowed  upon  this  problem,  and  the  best  that  each  of  us  cau 
do  is  to  mention  those  tendencies  which,  in  his  experience, 
seem  to  be  fairly  typical :  ^ 

1  William  McDougall,  Social  Psychology,  p.  44. 

2  See  William  McDougall,  Social  Psychology ;  William  James, 
“Energies  of  Men/’  in  Memories  and  Studies;  Joseph  Jastrow^ 


NATIVE  AND  ACQUIRED  PROMPTINGS  303 

1.  Self-respect.  “There  are  some  things  which  the  most 
depraved  will  not  do.  Come  what  may,  even  the  most  aban¬ 
doned  can  be  insulted  by  the  imputation  that  they  are 
capable  of  certain  things.  ’  ’  ^  How  largely  or  how  little 
this  openness  to  insult  is  compounded  of  foolish  conceit,  is 
beyond  our  present  question.  The  fact  exists  that  all  of 
us  have  a  certain  measure  of  pride  to  sustain  us  upon  some 
level  or  other  of  good  behavior.  Nor  can  we  minimize  the 
importance  of  self -judgment  as  a  final  arbitrament  by  re¬ 
minding  ourselves  that  often  it  is  largely  mixed  with  a  fear 
of  losing  the  advantages  of  social  communion.  O’Shea 
suggests  that  a  boy’s  protest  against  an  accusation  of  cow¬ 
ardice  is  not  so  much  an  eagerness  to  vindicate  his  claim 
to  his  own  respect  as  it  is  a  desire  to  keep  from  forfeiting 
the  advantages  denied  to  the  unworthy.^  There  is,  to  be 
sure,  a  social  reference  in  all  our  conceptions  of  self — we 
do,  indeed,  measure  the  value  of  our  conduct  largely  by 
the  comments  that  it  calls  forth  in  others — but  there  is  also 
a  unique  sense  of  the  value  asserted  by  ourselves.  This  is 
seen  most  strikingly  in  the  condemnation  which  we  pour 
upon  ourselves  when  we  know  that  we  do  not  really  deserve 
the  approval  which  has  come  from  outside.  O’Shea  is 
right  in  saying  that  there  is  little  of  this  unmixed  attitude 
before  adolescence,  but  it  is  nevertheless  to  be  found  even 
then,®  in  some  degree  or  other,  and  our  cue  as  teachers  is 
to  lay  hold  of  it  just  as  soon  as  we  possibly  can. 

At  its  best  this  motive  appears  in  such  attitudes  as  the 

Character  and  Temperament ;  D.  Irons,  Psychology  of  Ethics;  A.  F. 
Shand,  The  Foundations  of  Character ;  E.  L.  Thorndike,  The  Original 
Nature  of  Man;  Graham  Wallas,  The  Great  Society^  Ch.  II,  III, 
VIII,  IX. 

8  Irons,  op.  cit.,  p.  148. 

4  M.  V.  O’Shea,  Social  Development  and  Education,  pp.  124-128. 

5  Sully  says  that,  even  in  childish  resentment  at  physical  injury, 
“self-feeling,  a  germ  of  the  feeling  of  ‘my  worth,’  enters  .  .  .  and 
differentiates  it  from  a  mere  animal  rage.”  James  Sully,  Studies 
of  Childhood,  p.  235. 


304  EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


martyred  Giordano  Bruno :  “I  preferred  a  spirited  death 
to  a  cowardly  life.”  It  is  well  described  in  these  words 
of  John  Stuart  Mill’s:  ® 

Few  human  creatures  would  consent  to  be  changed  into  any 
of  the  lower  animals  for  a  promise  of  the  fullest  allowance  of 
the  beast’s  pleasures;  no  intelligent  human  being  would  consent 
to  be  a  fool,  no  instructed  person  would  be  an  ignoramus,  no 
person  of  feeling  and  conscience  would  be  selfish  and  base,  even 
though  .  .  .  persuaded  that  the  fool,  the  dunce,  or  the  rascal 
is  better  satisfied  with  his  lot  than  they  are  with  theirs.  ...  We 
may  give  whatever  explanation  we  please  of  this  unwillingness; 
we  may  attribute  it  to  pride  ...  to  the  love  of  liberty  ...  to 
the  love  of  power  .  .  .  but  its  most  appropriate  appellation  is 
a  sense  of  dignity,  which  all  human  beings  possess  in  one  form 
or  another  .  .  .  and  which  is  so  essential  a  part  of  the  happiness 
of  those  in  whom  it  is  strong,  that  nothing  which  conflicts  with 
it  could,  otherwise  than  momentarily,  be  an  object  of  desire  with 
them.  ...  It  is  better  to  be  a  human  being  dissatisfied  than 
a  pig  satisfied;  better  to  be  Socrates  dissatisfied  than  a  fool 
satisfied.  And  if  the  fool  or  the  pig  are  of  a  different  opinion, 
it  is  because  they  only  know  their  own  side  of  the  question. 

2.  Desire  for  independence.  When  Hawthorne  was  a 
student  at  college,  he  was  reported  for  having  violated  the 
rule  against  card  playing.  Writing  to  the  lad’s  mother, 
the  president  suggested  that  perhaps  her  son  was  not  wholly 
to  blame,  as  he  had  probably  been  led  astray  by  older  stu¬ 
dents.  When  young  Nathaniel  heard  of  this  gratuitous 
extenuation,  he  promptly  wrote  back  that  he  would  again 
break  the  rule  just  to  show  that  he  was  sufficient  master  of 
himself  to  be  responsible  for  his  own  conduct.  Teachers 
of  adolescents  will  recognize  this  spirit  as  typical.  It 
reaches  out  into  many  directions,  for  example,  into  the 
desire  to  be  self-supporting.  Rightly  guided,  it  is  of  incal¬ 
culable  value.  It  is  an  especially  important  help  to  young 
people’s  understanding  of  the  conception  of  inviolable 
worth. 


*  J.  S.  Mill,  U tilitarianisniy  Ch.  II. 


NATIVE  AND  ACQUIKED  PROMPTINGS  305 

3.  Desire  for  self-assertion  against  obstacles.  This  is 
closely  linked  with  the  combative  instincts.  It  explains 
the  force  of  such  an  appeal  as  Garibaldi’s  to  his  soldiers: 
^‘I  do  not  offer  you  provisions  or  money  or  soft  couches. 
I  offer  you  hunger  and  thirst,  forced  marches,  cold  and 
fatigue.  Let  him  who  loves  Italy  not  with  his  lips  but  in 
his  heart,  follow  me.” 

Since  character  calls  for  struggle  against  difficulties,  it 
is  good  to  remember  that  there  are  tendencies  in  human 
nature  that  can  be  made  to  welcome  this  very  fact.  We 
all  hate  to  admit  defeat ;  we  all  want  to  get  the  better  of  a 
hardship.  Indeed,  so  strong  is  the  passion  to  assert  our 
superiority  over  unfavorable  circumstance  that  for  amuse¬ 
ment  we  deliberately  create  obstacles  in  order  to  enjoy  the 
fun  of  overcoming  them.  There  would  be  no  zest  to  tennis 
if  the  lines  of  the  court  could  be  disregarded.  Boys  take 
delight  in  pranks  involving  an  element  of  decided  danger. 
Without  the  spice  of  difficulty,  much  of  their  iniquity  would 
lose  its  seductive  flavor.  Mr.  George  of  the  Junior  Re¬ 
public  once  declared  that  he  had  had  a  hard  “case”  to 
manage  who  said  it  was  too  easy  to  be  good.  He  helped  the 
lad  to  redeem  himself  by  making  him  see  that  it  was  really 
a  tough  job. 

4.  Desire  for  distinction.  Parallel  with  the  wish  to  be 
like  one’s  fellows  in  order  to  enjoy  their  society,  is  the 
aspiration  to  win  a  certain  glory  by  being  better.  By  it 
we  are  spurred  to  do  more  than  the  minimum  required  for 
mere  social  conformity.  This  incentive  shows  itself  in  the 
eagerness  to  win  in  athletic  contests  and  makes  a  very  com¬ 
mon  inducement  to  hard  training. 

Here  is  another  use  made  of  this  motive  in  a  public 
school  in  New  York :  ’’ 

7  Annual  Reports  of  the  Superintendent  of  Schools,  1920-1922, 
“High  Schools”  (Board  of  Education,  New  York),  p.  140.  The  finer 
spirits,  to  be  sure,  need  no  such  public  recognition  to  encourage  them. 


306 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


After  five  years  of  whole-hearted  service  from  our  boys,  we 
began  to  ask  ourselves  why  there  should  not  be  some  public 
recognition  of  faithfulness  of  this  sort.  The  students  high  in 
scholarship  in  our  school  have  their  names  inscribed  in  letters 
of  gold  on  the  Honor  Roll  Boards.  The  successful  athletes 
receive  their  trophies  of  victory  on  the  assembly  platform.  Why, 
we  asked  ourselves,  should  there  not  be  some  formal  tribute 
paid  to  quiet  and  effective  service  rendered  in  the  printing  office, 
in  the  school  library,  stock-rooms,  corridors,  and  lunch  rooms? 
And  so  the  Principal  appointed  a  committee  to  consider  the 
matter.  A  plan  was  drawn  up  and  submitted  ...  to  the 
teachers  and  to  the  student  body.  It  was  adopted  enthusiasti¬ 
cally  by  all.  Thus  began  the  Morris  Service  League.  .  .  .  An 
inspiring  speaker  is  secured,  and  the  newly  elected  members  of 
the  League  are  called  to  the  platform  to  receive  the  bronze  pin 
bearing  the  inscription  ^‘Morris  Service  League’’  in  the  school 
colors.  Those  selected  for  distinguished  service  exchange  their 
bronze  for  silver  pins  of  similar  design.  .  .  .  The  desire  to  get 
in  training  for  Service  League  membership  has  become  so  evi¬ 
dent  even  among  the  first  year  students  that  some  time  ago  we 
organized  the  Morris  Volunteers  to  work  under  the  leadership 
of  the  Service  League  captains. 

The  desire  for  distinction  has  close  affiliations  with  the 
other  motives  already  mentioned.  In  its  higher  forms,  it 
contributes  to  the  sense  of  worth  as  the  sense  of  unique 
and  intrinsic  preciousness. 

5.  Vocational  interests.  It  is  a  commonplace  among 
teachers  to-day  that  young  people  who  cannot  be  induced 
to  study  on  other  grounds  are  moved  to  apply  themselves 
to  school  work  more  readily  when  once  they  see  the  con¬ 
nection  between  their  studies  and  so  keen  an  interest  as 

•» 

the  desire  to  earn  a  living.  Industrial  education  is  one  of 
the  chief  resources  in  schools  for  truants  and  other  delin¬ 
quents.  The  vocational  motive  works  with  other  types  as 
well,  and  it  is  often  a  spur,  not  only  to  right  behaviors  in 
the  school,  but  to  a  general  self-discipline.  Indeed,  few 
other  appeals  carry  such  conviction  as  the  very  evident 
need  for  self-control,  sound  health,  perseverance,  if  one  is 


NATIVE  AND  ACQUIRED  PROMPTINGS  307 

to  succeed  in  the  business  of  making  a  living.  When  the 
vocational  motive  is  ethicized  into  the  desire  to  put  the 
making  of  a  living  at  the  service  of  the  making  of  a  life, 
the  worthiest  promptings  are  thereby  reinforced.  Consider 
only  how  the  sense  of  the  vocation  of  parenthood  makes 
many  a  parent  a  better  person  than  otherwise.  The  rule 
holds  for  other  callings  as  well,  once  they  are  regarded 
ethically. 

6.  Desire  for  fellowship.  One  of  the  worst  of  punish¬ 
ments  is  isolation  from  our  kind.  The  result  is  that  in 
order  to  live  in  a  society,  we  must  ‘  ‘  behave  ourselves,  ’  ’  for, 
unless  we  are  like  other  people  in  what  they  consider 
essential  qualities,  we  cannot  continue  in  their  company. 
The  thought  that  certain  modes  of  conduct  are  expected 
from  the  members  of  a  given  circle  is  often  a  marked  prop 
in  moments  of  weakness.  Noblesse  oblige/^  “the  honor 
of  our  country” — all  such  requirements  of  one’s  particu¬ 
lar  “set”  help  to  brace  the  unsteady  will.  They  make  the 
boy  of  six  stop  crying  on  being  told  that  only  babies  cry ; 
they  discourage  the  slacker;  and,  in  the  shape  of  the 
ethical  code  of  his  profession,  they  keep  the  lawyer  or  the 
doctor  in  the  more  honorable  path.  Elizabeth  Blackwell, 
the  first  woman  to  be  admitted  to  a  medical  school  in 
America,  was  moved  to  fresh  energy  every  time  she  thought 
that,  if  she  failed  in  her  work,  it  would  henceforth  be 
harder  for  other  women  to  be  allowed  to  study  medicine. 
For  the  honor  of  our  group,  we  do  many  things  that  would 
otherwise  be  much  less  easy. 

Testimony  to  the  strength  of  this  motive  is  offered  in 
this  report  from  a  public  school :  ® 

At  daily  assemblies  each  boy  is  conscious  of  his  part  as  one 
of  1,200  present.  On  special  occasions  he  is  conscious  that 
he  is  a  part  of  the  student  body  in  which  is  lodged  the  honor 


^  Log.  cit.,  p.  151. 


308 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


and  the  reputation  of  the  school  and  that  the  guests  on  the 
platform  are  his  guests.  He  realizes  his  responsibility  on  such 
occasions  and  often  proves  it  by  giving  attention  or  feigning 
it  when  the  speaker  cannot  be  heard  beyond  the  first  few  rows 
of  the  orchestra.  When,  as  an  individual,  he  fails  to  maintain 
a  standard  of  conduct  corresponding  to  the  accepted  standards 
of  good  breeding,  he  is  not  treated  as  a  lav/  breaker  and  visited 
with  a  set  dose  of  disagreeable  punishment.  Rather  he  is  made 
to  feel  that  he  has  shown  a  shameful  ignorance  of  the  dictates 
of  refinement,  culture,  and  good  breeding,  that,  by  being  incon¬ 
siderate  of  the  rights  of  others  and  thoughtless  of  the  reputation 
and  honor  of  the  school,  he  has  injured  himself. 

The  power  of  the  fellowship  motive  is  exhibited  most 
dramatically  in  the  patriotic  fervors  of  war  time.  Regains, 
whose  fidelity  to  his  word  Kant  instances  as  an  example 
of  high  moral  scruple,  was  perhaps  more  moved  by  the 
wish  to  serve  Rome  than  by  the  desire  to  do  right  as  such. 
The  appeal  of  country  has  become  in  multitudes  of  lives 
their  one  religious  impulse.  The  great  task  of  the  school  is 
to  cleanse  this  motive  of  its  baser  ingredients,  its  jingoism, 
its  blood  lusts,  its  conceits,  by  linking  up  the  idea  of  pa¬ 
triotism  with  the  services  of  peace  and  by  emphasizing  the 
thought  that  each  nation  is  to  serve  humanity  by  such  an 
interchange  of  influence  as  encourages  in  each  the  calling 
out  of  its  distinctive  best.  In  a  few  schools  the  services 
rendered  by  the  children  in  the  W^orld  War  have  been 
followed  up  by  a  freshened  interest  in  civic  service.  More, 
than  this,  however,  can  be  done.  Special  stress  should  be 
laid  on  the  fact  that  it  is  a  patriotic  service  to  give  your 
country  the  best  work  that  hand  and  brain  can  offer  in  the 
daily  calling,  and  that  just  as  the  soldier  must  go  to  the 
training  camp,  so  young  people  should  regard  their  school¬ 
ing  as  a  training  camp  in  which  to  prepare  for  the  best 
of  vocational  service,  even  before  they  know  definitely  what 
careers  they  will  follow.  The  relation  of  the  patriotic 
motive  to  the  need  of  a  sense  of  fellowship  in  the  world 


NATIVE  AND  ACQUIRED  PROMPTINGS  309 

community  has  already  been  discussed  in  our  study  of  the 
spirit  of  nationalism.® 

7.  Affection  and  benevolence.  It  is  quite  mistaken  to 
say  that  human  beings  are  utterly  self-seeking.  Regard 
for  the  welfare  of  others  is  every  whit  as  natural  as  the 
impulse  to  seek  one’s  own  gain.  As  Shaftesbury  said  in 
old-fashioned  phrase : 

In  the  passions  and  affections  of  particular  creatures  there 
is  a  constant  relation  to  the  interest  of  a  species  or  common 
nature.  This  has  been  demonstrated  in  the  case  of  natural  affec¬ 
tion,  parental  kindness,  zeal  for  posterity,  concern  for  the  propa¬ 
gation  and  nurture  of  the  young,  love  of  fellowship  and  company, 
compassion,  mutual  succor,  and  the  rest  of  this  kind. 

The  examples  of  parents  and  such  philanthropic  natures 
as  Florence  Nightingale,  or  Father  Damien,  or  Dr.  Walter 
Reed,  come  to  mind  at  once.  But  the  naturalness  of  the 
altruistic  tendencies  is  demonstrated  in  numberless  other 
instances.  Patriotic  devotion  is  one  example.  So  is  the 
readiness  with  which  people  subscribe  to  the  support  of 
charities  once  they  see  the  need ;  so  is  the  frequency  of  the 
little  services  which  we  are  perfectly  willing  to  perform 
every  day  without  the  least  thought  of  reward,  for  example, 
to  direct  a  stranger,  to  readdress  a  letter  received  for 
one  who  has  moved  away,  to  help  a  blind  man  across  the 
street.^’^ 


s  See  A.  W.  Dunn  and  H.  M.  Harris,  Citizenship  in  School  and 
Out,  for  suggestions  for  the  first  six  years  of  school  life.  Consult 
also  A.  W.  Dunn,  The  Community  and  the  Citizen;  C.  F.  Dole,  The 
New  American  Citizen;  W.  L.  Sheldon,  Citizenship  and  the  Duties 
of  a  Citizen;  E.  L.  Cabot,  A  Course  in  Citizenship.  See  also  refer¬ 
ences  in  section  on  “History  and  Civics.” 

10  A.  A.  C.  Shaftesbury,  An  Inquiry  Concerning  Virtue  and  Merit, 
Book  II,  Part  I,  Section  I.  See  also  Epictetus,  Discourses,  Book 
I,  Ch.  XXIII. 

11  A  worker  among  prisoners  contributes  this  testimony.  Speak¬ 
ing  of  on®  of  the  inmates  of  the  jail,  she  says :  “Long  after,  I  asked 


310 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


In  adolescence  there  is  often  a  marked  outpouring  of 
these  impulses  strong  enough  to  make  young  people  dedi¬ 
cate  themselves  to  life  careers  of  philanthropy.  It  is  a  pity 
that  in  much  of  our  vocational  teaching,  the  attention  of 
students  is  not  called  to  the  service  side  in  all  the  work  of 
the  world,  not  simply  in  distinctly  philanthropic  callings, 
but  in  every  occupation  properly  pursued. 

8.  Promptings  to  justice.  These  are  compounded  of 
many  impulses,  some  of  them  considerably  less  ethical  than 
others.  Children  are  most  rigorous,  for  instance,  in  de¬ 
manding  equal  treatment  for  all  who  seem  to  be  equal.  If 
John  and  James  both  do  wrong,  and  it  is  possible  to  punish 
only  John,  then  Thomas  insists  stoutly  that  both  should  be 
whipped  or  neither.^^  This  insistence  upon  equality  and 
upon  the  rendering  of  strict  quid  pro  quo  leads  no  doubt 
to  the  ‘  ‘  eye  for  an  eye  ’  ’  code  which  children  are  much  more 
likely  to  honor  than  the  doctrine  preached  in  the  Sermon 
on  the  Mount.  But,  crude  as  these  promptings  to  justice 
are  and  greatly  as  they  need  to  be  refined  and  enlightened, 
they  constitute  the  raw  material  with  which  we  must  work. 
Fortunately  few  persons  are  so  dead  to  any  sense  of  justice 
that  the  idea  of  ‘‘a  square  deaU’  fails  to  appeal,  once  its 
squareness  is  clearly  apprehended. 

9.  Imitation,  especially  in  hero-worship.  “What  man 
has  done,  I  can  do.  ’  ’  The  inspiration  of  example  is  beyond 
question.  Our  task  is  to  offer  the  richest  variety  of  the 
best  examples  we  can  find. 

Certain  cautions,  however,  must  be  uttered,  {a)  For 
instance,  monotonous  repetition  defeats  its  own  purposes 


him  what  had  induced  him  to  reply  to  my  questions  so  frankly  and 
sincerely.  His  answer  was,  ‘Because  I  knew  if  I  lied  to  you,  it  would 
make  it  harder  for  you  to  believe  the  next  man  you  talked  with, 
who  might  tell  you  the  truth.’  ”  W.  L.  Taylor,  The  Man  Behind 
the  Bars,  p.  235. 

12  See  Earl  Barnes,  Studies  in  Education,  “Children’s  Ideas  oi. 
Punishment.” 


NATIVE  AND  ACQUIRED  PROMPTINGS  311 

and  creates  dislike.  Imitation  follows  only  where  the  ad¬ 
miration  is  genuine. 

(&)  Great  skill  is  needed  to  give  the  deeds  of  a  hero  the 
living  meaning  which  they  possess  when  they  are  trans¬ 
lated  into  terms  of  the  child’s  own  possibilities.  On  this 
head,  speaking  of  the  attempt  to  encourage  self-control  by 
holding  up  such  examples  as  that  of  the  Roman  who 
plunged  his  hand  into  the  fire  to  show  his  captors  that  tor¬ 
ture  could  not  move  him,  an  able  educator  writes : 

We  cannot  make  our  teaching  of  this  trait  effective  simply 
by  telling  anecdotes  of  the  ancient  Romans.  .  .  .  The  fact  is 
that  the  child  is  not  an  ancient  Roman;  his  temperament  is 
different,  his  social  environment  is  different — namely,  a  society 
where  everything  is  done  to  satisfy  his  wants  and  to  make  life 
easier  for  him.  In  addition,  he  does  not  know  the  methods  by 
which  the  Roman  hero  trained  himself  to  this  degree  of  self- 
control;  and  even  if  he  did  know,  such  means  would  be  out 
of  the  question  for  people  of  our  modern  nervous  tendency. 
Hence,  this  example,  apparently  so  attractive,  is  best  employed 
only  as  a  symbol  and  a  picture. 

Then  the  author  goes  on  to  say  that  this  symbol  gets  its 
meaning  only  as  it  is  interpreted  into  the  child’s  own  expe¬ 
riences  in  self-control  and  those  further  experiences  which 
the  modern  child  ought  still  to  meet.  The  conduct  of  the 
hero,  that  is,  must  be  conceived  as  possible  of  imitation  in 
the  child’s  own  life.  It  is  not  enough  to  have  a  stock  of 
images  of  other  people’s  heroic  deeds;  one  must  imagine 
himself  doing  acts  of  this  sort  in  his  own  sphere  of  con¬ 
duct.  Hence  it  is  well,  along  with  Homer’s  and  Plutarch’s 
heroes  treated  in  this  way,  to  keep  before  him  the  heroes 
of  his  own  time  and  opportunities,  the  heroes  of  his  own 
years  and  powers.  We  must  not  underrate  the  value  of  an 
appeal  that  strikes  home  to  the  boy  as  something  that  he 
must  obey  now.  Morality  means  making  the  best  of  one’s 


13  F.  W.  Foerster,  Jugendlehre,  p.  15. 


312 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


present  daily  life,  not  simply  waiting  for  the  moral  oppor¬ 
tunities  of  adult  years. 

A  wise  system  of  education  must  take  account,  in  other 
words,  of  the  double  aspect  in  the  needs  to  which  hero- 
worship  ministers.  We  need  the  distant  goals  and  we  need 
the  immediate  helps.  As  James  Lane  Allen  put  it,  we  need 
both  the  beacons  shining  from  afar  and  the  candles  we  can 
hold  in  our  hands. 

(c)  A  quantitative  study  by  Barnes  of  children’s  ideals 
brought  out  the  fact  that  girls  mentioned  as  their  models 
a  disproportionate  number  of  persons  of  the  opposite  sex.^”* 
The  reasons  are  obvious.  Our  histories  deal  chiefly  with 
the  exploits  of  men,  women  being  often  completely  ignored. 
To  make  up  for  this  deficiency,  we  must  introduce  our  girls 
to  heroines  in  literature,  but,  better  still,  we  should  have 
them  know  what  part  women  have  really  played  in  the 
world’s  work.  We  must  introduce  them  to  Alice  Freeman 
Palmer,  Caroline  Herschel,  Mary  Lyon,  Elizabeth  Black- 
well,  Florence  Nightingale,  Clara  Barton,  Jane  Addams, 
Rosa  Bonheur,  and  Madame  Curie.  It  was  a  wise  provision 
of  Mr.  Durant,  when  he  founded  Wellesley  College,  to  in¬ 
sist  upon  having  women  as  professors,  through  fear  that 
the  girls  would  not  reach  high  levels  if  they  got  the  idea 
that  there  was  something  in  their  sex  which  ‘‘debarred 
them  from  high  scientific  standing.  ’  ’ 

The  whole  question  of  heroes  as  ideals,  it  may  be  said  in 
closing,  needs  very  careful  and  constant  attention.  Ac¬ 
quaintance  with  biographies  alone  may  give  life  a  false 
interpretation.  Children  are  apt  to  think  that  the  world’s 
good  and  bad  are  the  work  of  a  few  selected  individuals, 
whereas  history,  in  spite  of  Carlyle,  is  not  simply  a  record 
of  its  great  men.  Nor  is  it  the  hero  of  to-day’s  newspaper 
who  has  the  monopoly  of  present-day  moral  opportunity. 


Earl  Barnea,  Pedagogical  Seminary^  Vol.  VII,  pp.  3-19. 
15  G.  H.  Palmer,  Life  of  Alice  Freeman  Palmer^  p,  93. 


NATIVE  AND  ACQUIRED  PROMPTINGS  313 

There  are  daily  heroisms  which  never  get  into  print,  and, 
most  important  of  all,  life  is  not  a  string  of  heroic  situa¬ 
tions  whether  sung  or  unsung.  We  may  call  the  daily  per¬ 
formance  of  unpleasant  little  duties  heroic  if  we  will,  but, 
after  all,  it  is  these  humble,  uneventful  tasks  that  make 
for  most  of  us  the  great  bulk  of  the  day’s  living. 

10.  ^Esthetic  sense.  ‘‘Our  ordinary  words  descriptive 
of  righteousness  are  largely  borrowed  from  sssthetics.  We 
speak  of  what  is  good  as  fair,  fit,  fine,  clean,  square — 
assthetic  terms  all.  What  is  bad  is  ugly,  hideous,  repulsive, 
coarse,  unsuitable.  ...  If  I  were  a  father  and  were  send¬ 
ing  my  boy  from  home,  I  should  tremble  at  his  departure 
if  I  knew  that  he  had  no  regard  for  beauty.  .  .  .  Many 
times  have  I  been  saved  from  wrong-doing  through  the 
thought  of  .  .  .  what  an  ugly  and  repulsive  person  I  must 
afterwards  appear,  and  not  to  others  only  but  to  myself.  ’  ’ 
That  the  aesthetic  sense  alone  is  no  guarantee  of  rectitude, 
the  lives  of  countless  artists  will  testify.  Benvenuto  Cellini 
is  hardly  a  model  for  youth,  judged  even  by  the  standards 
of  his  own  dav.  Nevertheless,  for  some  situations  there  is 
a  likelihood  of  moral  suggestion  in  the  feeling  for  beauty 
by  which  “fastidiousness  protects  from  vice  as  effectively 
as  a  colder  ascetic  conscience.  ’  ’ 

11.  Religious  feelings.  All  human  history  attests  the 
influence  exerted  upon  conduct  by  the  sentiment  of  awe  in 
the  presence  of  unseen  realities,  especially  of  awe  for  a 
power  constraining  men  to  righteousness.  The  ethical 
significance  of  the  religious  sentiments  is  discussed  at  length 
in  a  succeeding  chapter. 

The  existence  of  all  these  tendencies  should  encourage 


16  G.  H.  Palmer,  Field  of  Ethics,  pp.  92,  93.  See  also  F.  C.  Sharp, 
/Esthetic  Element  in  Morality,  Ch.  III. 

17  Joseph  Jastrow,  Qualities  of  Men,  p.  15.  “The  virtues,  though 
subject  to  complex  sympathies  and  antipathies,  have  an  underlying 
afl&nity  for  their  kind,”  p.  17. 


314  EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 

us.  If  our  pupils  are  so  constituted  that  a  higher  course 
of  conduct  does  not  appeal  to  them  as  spontaneously  as  to 
those  rarer  natures  like  Emerson ’s  who  seem  never  to  have 
known  the  wrestlings  wdth  conscience  familiar  to  other  men, 
there  is  always  the  chance  that  the  better  way  will  be  ac¬ 
cepted  through  its  connection  with  some  of  the  promptings 
we  have  here  indicated.  One  or  two  further  reminders, 
however,  need  to  be  stressed. 

One  is  the  w^arning  to  beware  of  the  formal  discipline 
fallacy.  There  is  no  guarantee  that  the  motives  impelling 
to  a  particular  type  of  conduct  will  necessarily  operate  in 
other  fields.  A  lad  whose  combative  instincts  are  strongly 
marked  in  athletics  is  not  for  that  reason  to  be  expected 
to  welcome  the  difficulties  offered  by  his  problems  in  mathe¬ 
matics.  That  such  a  spreading  of  good  result  is  possible 
must  by  all  means  be  conceded,  but  it  is  only  possible,  not 
certain.  The  likelihood  of  such  an  extension  depends  on 
the  degree  to  which  the  ideals  back  of  any  special  aptitude 
are  consciously  taken  to  heart  with  the  resolve  that  they 
shall  be  so  extended.  The  self-discipline  imposed  by  a  lad 
for  the  sake  of  athletic  success  will  be  part  of  his  life  plan 
only  as  he  has  the  good  sense  to  see  the  need  of  making  the 
highly  specific  applications  necessary  elsewhere. 

We  are  thus  recalled  to  the  fact  that  experience  alone 
does  not  teach  but  that  everything  depends  upon  intelli¬ 
gent  understanding  of  its  meaning.  Hence,  too,  it  is  essen¬ 
tial  to  enlist  the  intelligent  cooperation  of  our  young  people 
in  working  over  their  native  tendencies  into  genuine  ideals. 
Ethical  conduct  is  not  a  matter  of  gratifying  such  self- 
regarding  impulses  as  the  desires  for  self-assertion,  etc., 
here  mentioned.  Nor  is  it,  on  the  other  hand,  what  so  many 
think  it,  an  affair  of  the  altruistic  impulses.  Neither  egoism 
nor  altruism,  as  such,  has  any  final  ethical  value.  Both  are 
necessary.  Robust  self-assertion  is  quite  as  essential  to 
character  as  the  spirit  of  kindness.  The  ethical  ideal  tran- 


NATIVE  AND  ACQUIRED  PROMPTINGS  315 

scends  both  egoism  and  altruism  by  making  both  of  them 
contribute  to  the  best  of  conduct,  that  is,  to  the  conduct  in 
which,  as  we  saw  in  an  earlier  chapter,  we  raise  up  in  one 
another  the  sense  of  spiritual  reality. 

Every  such  perception  becomes  a  stimulus  to  ever  better 
dealings;  and  here  the  most  practical  resource  lies  in  a 
habit  as  yet  insufficiently  cultivated — the  habit  of  seeing 
people  in  the  light  of  their  ideal  natures.  What  this  means 
we  understand  readily  enough  when  we  have  lost  someone 
whom  we  have  greatly  loved.  We  behold  his  countenance 
now  transfigured  with  the  light  of  what  was  best  in  him, 
and  the  image  becomes  for  us  a  kind  of  guardian  angel 
admonishing  us  when  our  conduct  is  unworthy  or  in  our 
better  moments  smiling  approval.  The  face  of  a  living 
child  performs  the  same  office  for  us  when  the  eye  of  our 
affection  looks  ahead  and  sees  the  noble  person  we  want 
the  child  to  be.  These  images  of  the  ideal  life  in  people 
are  marvelously  potent.  It  would  help  us  greatly  to  form 
the  habit  of  thus  regarding  people,  beginning  with  the  per¬ 
sons  closest  to  us,  practicing  the  habit  especially  in  the  case 
of  those  whom  we  are  tempted  to  rate  cheaply,  always 
seeing  their  faces  illumined  by  the  inner  excellence  raised 
to  its  loftiest  degree.  By  such  means  we  get  glimpses  of 
that  in  people  which  most  merits  our  services ;  the  best  we 
can  do  for  people  is  to  help  them  become  aware  of  their 
highest  selves.  And  the  attempt  has  a  creative  effect  upon 
our  own  lives ;  it  quickens  the  spiritual  consciousness  in  us. 

Extended  beyond  our  own  circle  to  ever  wider  groups 
and  projected  in  time  beyond  our  own  day,  these  mental 
portraits  symbolize  for  us  the  universe  of  perfect  being.  If 
we  learn  to  surround  ourselves  by  this  ideal  company  of 
guardian  and  guiding  souls  and  to  consult  their  glance,  we 
shall  find  something  exceedingly  energizing  in  the  practice. 
Just  as  the  soldiers  of  Napoleon,  about  to  give  way  to 
weariness,  were  roused  by  the  call :  ‘  ‘  The  eyes  of  all  Prance 


316 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


are  upon  you,”  we  too  can  find  an  unfailing  stimulation 
in  the  thought  of  the  beloved  spectators  gazing  upon  us. 
The  greatest  power  in  all  the  world  is  the  power  we  draw 
from  contact  with  the  good  life  in  people.  If,  then,  we 
learn  to  draw  upon  it  by  constructing  images  of  our  ideal 
company,  we  shall  be  better  able  to  pass  on  to  our  young 
people  the  most  effective  of  all  agencies  for  the  quickening 
of  their  own  best.  The  other  motives  become  ethical  to  the 
extent  of  their  penetration  by  this  highest. 

Let  us  not  be  timorous  about  addressing  the  loftiest  levels 
to  which  youth  can  ascend.  There  is  danger  in  the  pro¬ 
fessional  tendency  to  fall  into  a  rut  and  to  be  content  with 
whatever  conduct  we  can  get,  whether  the  motives  be  high 
or  low.  The  ethical  life  is  essentially  a  life  of  growth,  a 
matter  of  endlessly  reaching  out  after  rarer,  higher,  and 
deeper  relationships  than  those  already  lived.  The  arch 
temptation  for  most  people,  let  it  be  said  again,  is  not 
wickedness  but  indifference  and  stagnation. 

School  and  college,  because  they  deal  with  lives  as  yet 
relatively  uncompromised,  are  of  all  places  the  ones  to  keep 
the  currents  of  moral  energy  always  fresh  by  revealing  con¬ 
stantly  higher  sources  of  inspiration.  What  else  is  the 
function  of  ideals?  The  story  is  told  that  a  certain  class 
once  objected :  ^  ‘  Professor,  this  course  is  above  our  heads.  ’  ^ 
^  ‘  I  know  it,  ’  ’  was  the  quiet  reply,  ‘  ‘  I  am  directing  it  where 
your  heads  ought  to  be.  ’  ’ 

Questions  and  Problems 

1.  Read  JSuchleherry  Finn  and  Tom  Sawyer,  Whitens  Court  of 
Boyville,  Howells’  A  Boy^s  Town,  Martin’s  Emmy  Lou,  Can¬ 
field’s  Understood  Betsy.  Report  from  these  books  on  chil¬ 
dren’s  interests  and  the  educative  uses  to  be  made  of  them. 

2.  Summarize  the  arguments  for  and  against  the  use  of  prizes, 
medals,  etc.  How  can  the  good  in  rivalry  be  so  employed 
as  to  minimize  the  harm? 


NATIVE  AND  ACQUIRED  PROMPTINGS  317 

3.  Explain  why  children  are  sometimes  more  unhappy  in  schools 
where  they  can  do  as  they  please  than  in  schools  of  a  stricter 
sort. 

4.  Give  instances  from  both  adult  and  child  life  to  show  that 
an  obedience  obtained  chiefly  by  force  fails  to  stay  put. 
Explain  why. 

5.  What  is  your  idea  of  a  prig?  Why  is  the  name  sometimes 
applied  unjustly?  How  can  priggishness  be  avoided? 

6.  Adolescent  boys  will  often  develop  an  interest  in  personal 
tidiness  because  of  their  interest  in  girls.  What  further 
educational  suggestions  are  there  in  a  fact  of  this  kind? 

7.  Discuss  the  point  in  the  illustration  (Freeland’s  Modern  Ele¬ 
mentary  School  Practice,  p.  371)  of  how  boys  were  diverted 
from  killing  birds  by  being  set  to  build  bird-houses. 

References 

See,  besides  references  quoted  in  text: 

Addams,  Jane,  Spirit  of  Youth  and  the  City  Streets,  Ch.  III. 

Bagley,  W.  C.,  and  Colvin,  S.  S.,  Human  Behavior,  Ch.  IX,  X. 

Barnes,  Earl,  Studies  in  Education,  Second  Series,  ‘‘Children’s 
Ambitions.” 

Bligh,  S.  M.,  The  Direction  of  Desire. 

Dewey,  John,  Human  Nature  and  Conduct;  Interest  and  Effort 
in  Education. 

Hartmann,  Gertrude,  The  Child  and  His  School,  Part  I. 

Hocking,  W.  E.,  Human  Nature  and  Its  liemaking. 

Holmes,  Arthur,  Principles  of  Character  Making,  Ch.  V,  IX, 
XII. 

Jastrow,  Joseph,  Character  and  Temperament. 

Martin,  E.  D.,  The  Behavior  of  Crowds. 

Korsworthy,  Naomi,  and  Whittly,  M.  T.,  The  Psychology  of 
Childhood,  pp.  219-297. 

O’Shea,  M.  V.,  Mental  Development  and  Education,  Ch.  XI,  XII. 

Swift,  E.  J.,  Mind  iZ  the  Making,  Ch.  II;  Youth  and  the  Race, 
Ch.  I,  II. 

Thorndike,  E.  L.,  Educational  Psychology,  Vol.  I,  “The  Origi¬ 
nal  Nature  of  Man.” 


CHAPTER  XV 


THE  POWER  OF  THE  FEELINGS 

From  what  has  been  said  thus  far,  it  might  seem  as  if 
the  activities  and  mental  processes  we  have  mentioned 
could  be  carried  on  with  the  impersonal  coldness  with  which, 
for  instance,  we  agree  that  two  and  two  make  four.  This 
is  not  so.  To  focus  attention  upon  specific  phases  of  our 
problem,  we  have  omitted  to  notice  that  in  all  these  opera¬ 
tions  there  is  a  certain  tone  or  coloring  to  our  states  of 
mind,  a  matter  of  feeling  such  as  we  recognize  when,  for 
instance,  we  compare  an  auctioneer ’s  description  of  a  house 
with  the  ideas  in  the  minds  of  those  to  whom  “house’’  has 
meant  “home.” 

In  the  main,  our  attitudes  toward  matters  of  right  and 
wrong  are  of  no  consequence  for  character-building  so  long 
as  they  remain  a  more  or  less  cold-blooded  awareness  of  the 
fact  that  such  and  such  duties  exist.  To  agree  that  cheating 
is  wrong  in  the  same  detached  way  in  which  we  say  that 
the  square  of  a  binomial  must  be  a  trinomial  is  not  going 
to  lead  to  any  notable  inner  change.  The  really  fruitful 
decision  is  made  with  feeling.  It  says,  *  ‘  Cheating  is  some¬ 
thing  I  detest.”  Where  these  feelings  are  absent,  at  least 
in  the  initial  stages — the  fixing  of  habit  renders  their  oper¬ 
ation  less  and  less  necessary — conduct  does  not  follow. 
“What’s  Hecuba  to  him  .  .  .  that  he  should  weep  for 
her?”  asks  Hamlet.  So  with  all  of  us,  a  moral  issue  is  a 
quite  lifeless  affair  unless  it  strikes  us  with  a  moving  sense 
of  its  being  our  concern.  This  sense  of  intimate  concern  is 
hard  to  analyze,  but  it  is  a  fact  to  be  reckoned  with  in  all 

our  moral  behaviors.  Its  function  is  to  release  the  energy 

318 


THE  POWER  OF  THE  FEELINGS 


319 


needed  to  overcome  moral  inertia.  Character  develops 
through  the  setting  up  of  new  ends;  we  grow  by  being 
consciously  or  unconsciously  dissatisfied  with  our  familiar 
selves  and  by  wanting  new  and  better.  Our  native  inertia, 
however,  inclines  us  to  follow  the  lines  of  least  resistance 
already  marked  out  by  instinct  and  habit.  The  force 
needed  to  overcome  this  tendency  is  feeling.  How  readily 
actions  that  otherwise  would  never  be  performed  become 
possible  when  feeling  is  intense,  the  war-time  efforts  to 
stimulate  “morale”  abundantly  illustrate. 

The  feelings  also  may  clarify  the  judgment.  To  be  sure, 
they  may  mislead.  Envy,  for  example,  blinds  us  to  an¬ 
other’s  excellence,  or  love  exaggerates  it.  But  the  fact  for 
the  educator  to  remember  is  the  powerful  reinforcement 
that  the  feelings  can  bring  to  the  better  judgments.  A 
sense  of  shame,  for  instance,  makes  us  see  with  penetrat¬ 
ing  clearness  a  truth  otherwise  obscured.  Love  makes  us 
understand  better  the  claims  of  its  object  upon  our  service. 
The  wish  is  father  to  the  thought  in  right  thinking  as  truly 
as  it  is  in  our  unworthier  prejudices.  ‘  ‘  If  your  heart  does 
not  want  a  world  of  moral  reality,  ”  says  Professor  James,  ” 
your  head  will  assuredly  never  make  you  believe  in  one.  ’  ’  ^ 
For  teachers  the  point  is  important.  Do  we  not  often 
meet  situations  about  which  we  find  it  fruitless  to  argue? 
Sometimes,  for  example,  the  line  between  vulgarity  and  its 
opposite  is  too  fine  for  many  of  our  pupils  to  see  it  from  our 
demonstration.  We  may  give  them  reasons  by  the  score, 
but  for  certain  minds  there  remains  somewhere  in  the  line 
of  argument  a  baffling  ‘  ‘  why  ’  ’  ?  Our  hope  in  such  instances 
is  feeling,  a  sentiment  of  self-respect,  a  growing  refinement 
of  disposition,  a  quickened  loyalty  which  argument,  as  such, 
can  never  expect  to  create.  Now  as  of  old  the  issues  of  life 
are  out  of  the  heart. 


1  William  James,  Will  to  Believe,  p.  23. 


320 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


A  third  important  function  is  the  power  possessed  by 
certain  feelings  to  bring  individuals  into  union.  Although 
feeling  is  a  sense  of  special  significance  to  the  self,  some 
facts  make  the  same  appeal  to  all  normal  beings.  Brothers 
and  sisters  who  are  separated  by  intellectual  difference  are 
united  when  the  family  finds  its  honor  attacked  or  when  it 
suffers  a  grief.  So  are  nations.  The  sense  of  community 
is  almost  entirely  a  matter  of  feeling. 

The  task  of  cultivating  these  resources  is  fraught  with 
peculiar  difficulties.  It  is  easier  to  correct  an  error  of 
reasoning  in  physics  than  it  is,  let  us  say,  to  dislodge  a 
prejudice  against  foreigners.  A  teacher  can  be  more  sure 
of  success  in  the  attempt  to  teach  a  fact  of  astronomy  than 
to  instil  a  love  of  beauty.  One  thing,  however,  is  certain : 
the  method  of  direct  attack  upon  harmful  feelings  is  futile. 
Guardians  of  the  young  are  often  tempted  into  frontal 
assaults  upon  misdirected  affections,  only  to  find  that  the 
labor  is  lost.  Emotional  states  have  an  annoying  tend¬ 
ency  to  welcome  only  such  ideas  as  are  congruous  and  to 
repel  the  inharmonious.  As  Williams  James  put  it:^ 

If  we  be  joyous,  we  cannot  keep  thinking  of  those  uncertainties 
and  risks  of  failures  which  abound  upon  our  path;  if  lugubrious, 
we  cannot  think  of  new  triumphs,  travels,  loves,  and  joys;  nor 
if  vengeful,  of  our  oppressors’  community  of  nature  with  our¬ 
selves.  The  cooling  advice  which  we  get  from  others  when  the 
fever  fit  is  on  us  is  the  most  jarring  and  exasperating  thing  in 
life.  Reply  we  cannot,  so  we  get  angry;  for  by  a  sort  of  self¬ 
preserving  instinct  which  our  passion  has,  it  feels  that  these 
chill  objects,  if  they  once  but  gain  a  lodgment,  will  work  and 
work  until  they  have  frozen  the  very  spark  from  out  of  our 
mood. 

Our  cue  in  such  cases  obviously  is  to  lie  in  wait  for  the 
fury  of  the  hostile  mood  to  subside. 

Even  where  the  feeling  to  be  replaced  is  more  than 


2  James,  Psychology y  Briefer  Course,  p.  451. 


THE  POWER  OF  THE  FEELINGS 


321 


momentary,  a  similar  principle  holds  true.  To  make  a 
direct  charge  upon  a  detrimental  fondness  is  useless.  If 
the  better  sentiment  is  to  take  its  place,  it  must  win  by  the 
unforced  recognition  of  its  own  superior  merit.  Much  as 
we  may  deplore  the  mischief  in  the  inferior  motion-picture 
show,  nothing  but  an  uncoerced  love  for  the  higher  kind 
of  entertainment  will  drive  out  the  lower.  All  this  demands 
not  only  skill  and  tact  but  endless  patience,  for  the  results 
come  with  such  painful  slowness.  After  months  of  untiring 
effort  to  get  youngsters  to  care  for  fun  superior  to  the 
horseplay  of  the  Sunday  comic  supplement,  or  for  ‘  ‘  ideals  ’  ’ 
better  than  those  admired  with  such  tantalizing  wayward¬ 
ness,  what  aching  of  the  heart  it  brings  to  find  that  the 
perverse  admiration  still  persists!  This  is  the  time  to  be 
specially  on  guard.  Nothing  is  easier  than  to  be  moved 
at  this  point  into  hurrying  matters  by  eloquent  denuncia¬ 
tion,  and  nothing  is  more  fruitless.  The  feelings  that  rep¬ 
resent  a  change  of  heart  come  often  without  the  least  con¬ 
sciousness  on  the  student’s  part  that  his  tastes  are  chang¬ 
ing.  The  experiences  of  the  teacher’s  own  youth  in  regard 
to  reading  illustrates  the  point.  Fondness  for  the  detective 
story  of  the  poorer  sort  disappears  once  a  delight  is  felt  in 
Conan  Doyle  and  Poe ;  the  historical  tales  of  Henty  appear 
childish  as  soon  as  Scott  and  Dumas  are  enjoyed.  Quite 
the  same  holds  with  regard  to  personal  ideals.  Only  the 
uncompelled  love  of  the  higher  can  banish  the  love  of  the 
lower. 

What  further  can  be  done?  At  the  outset  we  can  con¬ 
serve  what  is  undoubtedly  good  in  the  mixture  of  feelings 
already  operative.  Ridicule,  for  example,  is  sometimes  apt 
to  be  bad,  because  it  may  weaken  one  of  the  most  essential 
props  to  the  moral  nature,  the  sense  of  personal  dignity. 
The  greatest  care  is  likewise  necessary  to  respect  the  desire 
of  the  young  to  be  their  own  masters.  Many  a  trying  act 
of  seeming  depravity  is  the  expression  of  this  highly  valu- 


322 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


able  trait.  To  wound  it  by  punishing  it  as  if  it  were 
utterly  wicked  is  the  gravest  mistake.  Furthermore,  it  need 
hardly  be  said  that  we  must  not  try  to  eradicate  prema¬ 
turely  a  feeling  that  serves  a  useful  function  in  a  lower 
stage  of  development,  howsoever  necessary  its  absence  may 
be  at  a  higher.  Thus,  the  contempt  of  a  child  of  nine  for 
a  tattle-tale  must  be  respected.  The  wider  loyalty  involved 
in  the  duty  of  the  citizen  to  expose  an  offender  is  too  diffi¬ 
cult  for  children  to  understand  in  the  ordinary  situations 
of  the  school  life.  The  time  comes,  to  be  sure,  when  the 
idea  of  this  better  type  of  loyalty  must  be  understood.  But 
at  least  up  to  early  adolescence  the  narrower  loyalty  should 
be  respected,  because  it  constitutes  the  material  out  of  which 
to  develop  the  later  and  better  types. 

A  good  general  rule  for  the  education  of  feeling  is  to 
remember  that  feelings  are  normally  evoked  by  concrete 
acts,  specific  ideas,  or  persons,  and  never  by  generalities. 
We  admire  not  excellence  in  general  but  definite  manifesta¬ 
tions  in  particular  acts  of  human  beings.  We  are  never 
indignant  at  abstract  wrong  but  always  at  acts  of  specific 
injustice  or  cruelty.  Other  conditions  being  equal,  the 
more  vivid  the  images  we  form  the  more  deeply  the  feel¬ 
ings  are  touched.  The  story  of  one  famine-stricken  child 
affects  us  more  powerfully  than  to  be  told  that  millions  are 
starving.  A  picture  is  still  more  moving.  The  actual  sight 
of  one  child  itself  is  the  most  effective  method  of  all. 

Let  the  school,  therefore,  use  every  recourse  to  make  the 
noblest  conceptions  concrete  and  vivid.^  Literature  is  one 
such  means.  Our  pupils  catch  in  a  new  way  a  sense  of 
what  makes  a  home  precious,  when  they  enjoy  the  pictures 
in  ‘‘The  Cotter’s  Saturday  Night”  or  “Snowbound,”  or 
when  they  linger  over  Eppie’s  decision  to  stay  with  Silas 

s  A  method  of  interesting  children  in  moral  ideas  through  pictures 
on  the  screen  has  been  worked  out  by  M.  J.  Fairchild,  Character 
Education  Institution,  Chevy  Chase,  Washington,  D.  C. 


THE  POWER  OF  THE  FEELINGS 


323 


Marner.  They  feel  a  scorn  for  the  ‘‘street-angel,  house- 
devil”  behaviors  when  they  enjoy  Browning’s  “My  Last 
Duchess.”  The  hitter  experience  of  Arthur  Donnithorne 
in  Adam  Bede,  when  he  hears  of  the  arrest  of  Hetty  Sorel 
— -“there’s  a  kind  of  wrong  for  which  you  can  never  make 
up  ’  ’ — may  stir  in  many  an  older  high-school  lad  reflections 
on  sex  morality  otherwise  less  easy  to  start. 

Other  arts  than  those  of  the  writer  must  also  be  levied 
upon.  Music,  painting,  sculpture  have  their  tale  to  tell  of 
the  splendor  that  life  wears  whenever  it  is  irradiated  by 
the  light  of  ideal  excellence.  Wise  indeed  were  the  Greeks 
in  making  their  cities  beautiful.  They  wanted  children  to 
grow  up  amid  images  that  would  make  them  draw  them¬ 
selves  erect  with  a  heightened  sense  of  dignity :  ‘  ‘  Then  will 
our  youth,”  said  Plato  in  The  Republic,  “dwell  in  a  land 
of  health  amid  fair  sights  and  sounds  and  receive  the  good 
in  everything ;  and  beauty,  the  effluence  of  fair  works,  shall 
flow  into  the  eye  and  ear  like  a  health-giving  breeze  from 
a  purer  region  and  insensibly  draw  the  soul  into  likeness 
and  sympathy  with  the  beauty  of  reason.” 

For  this  purpose  much  can  be  made  of  the  school  festi¬ 
val,  the  ceremony,  the  ritual,  the  play,  and  the  pageant 
where  the  best  treasures  of  all  the  arts  are  brought  together 
and  the  effects  are  heightened  by  communal  participation. 
‘  ‘  Natures  specially  gifted  can  live  lives  that  are  emotionally 
vivid  even  in  the  rare  high  air  of  art  and  science ;  but  many, 
perhaps  most  of  us,  breathe  more  freely  in  the  medium, 
literally  the  midway  space,  of  some  collective  ritual.  ’  ’  * 

The  development  of  the  primitive  Greek  ritual  into  plays 
which  the  modern  ages  have  not  surpassed,  the  debt  of  the 
modern  drama  to  the  ceremonies  of  the  Church  at  Christ¬ 
mas  and  Easter  remind  us  how  close  is  the  connection  be¬ 
tween  religious  sentiments  and  drama  in  its  most  inclusive 


*  Jane  Harrison,  Ancient  Art  and  Ritual,  p.  206. 


324 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


sense,  and  how  useful  a  clue  is  thus  afforded  to  the  school 
of  to-day.  Not  only  are  the  feelings  reenforced  by  the 
aesthetic  appeal  which  every  worthy  ceremony  makes,  and 
by  the  sense  of  a  collective  sentiment,  but  a  ceremony  is 
primarily  an  attempt  to  present  an  important  fact  with 
the  most  striking  concreteness.  It  bids  participants  and 
spectators  stop  their  usual  work  for  the  very  purpose  of 
directing  all  attention  upon  the  importance  of  this  single 
circumstance.  Says  a  teacher  who  has  done  notable  pioneer 
work  in  this  field :  ® 

We  plead  for  the  incorporation  of  the  festival  in  the  regular 
activities  of  the  school  on  the  general  ground  that  it  is  important 
to  keep  alive  in  the  child  those  feelings  of  joy  and  gratitude,  of 
admiration  and  awe,  of  which  the  festival  has  at  all  times  been  the 
expression.  It  is  important  that  the  child  should  have  an  imagi¬ 
native  sense  of  the  great  rhythms  of  life  and  the  mighty  presence 
and  potencies  of  Earth  the  mother,  Earth  the  sustainer  of  his  life, 
Earth  the  august  home  of  his  labors.  We  should  preserve  in  him, 
if  we  can,  something  of  the  child-man’s  responsive  glow  in  the 
presence  of  the  changes  of  nature — Christmas  and  New  Year, 
with  their  returning  light  and  length  of  days;  Candlemas,  the 
old  mid-winter  feast ;  Easter,  with  its  fresh  glow  of  life  in  grass 
and  tree;  May  Day,  with  its  tribute  to  Flora;  Thanksgiving  And 
Harvest  Home,  with  their  grateful  load  of  winter  store.  It  is 
more  important  still  that  the  child  should  recall  continually  on 
birthdays  and  death-days  the  great  heroes  and  martyrs  and  sages 
to  whom  the  race  owes  its  priceless  gifts  of  liberty  and  humanity ; 
its  inventors  and  voyagers  and  toilers,  its  singers  and  artists;  as 
well  as  the  great  historical  anniversaries  and  centennials  which 
mark  turning-points  in  man’s  advance  along  the  centuries.  It  is 
by  these  commemorations  as  by  nothing  else  that  we  can  feed  in 
the  young  those  emotions  of  admiration,  reverence,  and  love  which 
are  the  fundamental  forces  in  education  as  in  life.  It  is  thus 
that  we  can  develop — unconsciously,  of  course — that  underlying 
consciousness  of  kind,  of  human  solidarity,  of  cooperative  unity, 

6  Percival  Chubb,  “The  Function  of  the  Festival  in  School  Life,” 
pamphlet  published  by  the  Ethical  Culture  School,  New  York.  See 
also  his  Festivals  and  Plays, 


THE  POWER  OF  THE  PEELINGS  325 

which  may  offset  the  crude  and  narrow  individualism  that  every¬ 
where  menaces  us. 

Important  as  all  these  considerations  are,  one  fact  should 
be  prominent:  that  in  the  last  analysis,  feelings  are  kin¬ 
dled  by  the  contagion  of  personality.  The  flame  of  moral 
enthusiasm  is  lighted  only  at  the  fire  that  burns  in  other 
people. 

It  is  this  that  makes  so  invaluable  the  contact  with  ex¬ 
cellent  life  in  the  persons  about  us  and  in  those  whom  we 
meet  in  history  and  biography.  Plutarch’s  Lives  has  been 
for  ages  a  help  unfailing 

to  inflame 

The  noble  youth  with  an  ambitious  heat 
To  be  thought  worthy  the  triumphal  wreath 
By  glorious  undertakings. 

Such  in  varying  degrees  and  in  different  directions  is  the 
service  of  Socrates,  Sir  Thomas  More,  Sir  Philip  Sidney, 
William  the  Silent,  Hugo  Grotius,  Florence  Nightingale, 
Lincoln.  Each  of  the  school  studies  will  furnish  its  own 
list  of  great  lives  worth  knowing.  Surely  no  course  in 
science  is  doing  all  that  it  might  unless  it  brings  pupils 
into  touch  with  the  passion  for  truth  which  inspired  Roger 
Bacon,  Bruno,  Faraday,  Darwin.  Mathematicians,  artists, 
workers  of  every  kind  must  all  be  known.  And  especially 
fruitful  for  to-day  is  the  field  opened  up  by  the  many  inter¬ 
esting  biographies  of  educators  like  Horace  Mann,  Samuel 
Gridley  Howe,  philanthropic  workers  like  Dr.  Grenfell  or 
Jacob  Riis,  forward-looking,  socially-minded  business  men 
like  Robert  Owen  and  Richard  Cobden. 

We  must  guard,  of  course,  against  supposing  that  any 
human  being  can  ever  be  a  perfect  exemplar  for  any  other. 
To  no  two  beings  does  life  bring  exactly  the  same  combina¬ 
tions  of  opportunity  and  hindrance  which  constitute  the 
field  of  duty.  Likewise  we  must  remember  that  none  of 
our  heroes  is  himself  a  perfect  being.  The  best  of  men,  as 


326 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


some  of  our  pupils  will  eventually  discover,  had  deficien¬ 
cies  which  eulogy  ignores.  The  younger  the  child  is,  the  less 
should  attention  in  any  way  be  called  to  these  shortcomings. 
In  a  general  way,  silence  on  this  head  will  perhaps  be  found 
best  for  many,  if  not  most,  pupils  even  in  the  high  school. 
Let  them  obtain  what  they  can  from  the  positive  excellen¬ 
cies  of  their  heroes.  The  more  thoughtful  can  be  helped  by 
learning  that  though  the  work  of  the  world  would  undoubt¬ 
edly  be  done  better  if  there  were  less  clay  in  man’s  make¬ 
up,  after  all  the  good  work  must  be  carried  forward  not 
by  angels  but  by  men.  All  people  are  a  medley  of  high  and 
low.  The  more  reflective  pupil  may  therefore  learn  from 
biography  to  be  more  just  in  his  judgments  of  his  fellow 
beings,  to  temper  these  judgments  with  discrimination  and 
at  the  same  time  to  admire  heartily  the  good  he  discovers 
in  the  mixture.®  In  the  main  the  most  useful  function  of 
biography  should  be  to  kindle  enthusiastic,  positive  admi¬ 
rations. 

Much  will  depend  upon  the  degree  to  which  these  person¬ 
ages  are  made  real  to  our  pupils.  The  happy  anecdote  will 
not  suffice.  To  know  one’s  heroes  in  biography,  we  must 
live  with  them  from  day  to  day,  in  something  of  the  fashion 
in  which  we  meet  those  whom  we  admire  in  the  life  about 
us.  There  must  be  a  certain  mass  to  our  knowledge  of 
them,  not  simply  the  stray  and  often  unrelated  illustrations 
selected  for  purposes  of  anecdote. 

The  most  vivid  touch  of  all  is  that  of  the  living  person. 
William  Cullen  Bryant,  who,  as  editor  of  The  Evening 
Post,  frequently  braved  a  popular  dislike  by  taking  a  posi¬ 
tion  in  advance  of  the  community’s  average  moral  senti¬ 
ment,  records  this  debt  to  his  mother :  ^ 

«  There  is  food  for  reflection  in  such  a  characterization  as  that 
made  of  Robert  Owen:  “He  was  one  of  those  intolerable  bores  who 
constitute  the  salt  of  the  earth.” 

f  Bryant,  English  Men  of  Letters,  p.  6. 


THE  POWER  OF  THE  FEELINGS 


327 


Her  prompt  condemnation  of  injustice,  even  in  those  instances 
in  which  it  is  tolerated  by  the  world,  made  a  strong  impression 
upon  me  in  early  life;  and  if  in  the  decision  of  public  questions, 
I  have  in  my  sober  age  endeavored  to  keep  in  view  the  great 
rule  of  right  without  much  regard  to  persons,  it  has  been  owing 
in  a  good  degree  to  the  force  of  her  example  which  taught 
me  never  to  countenance  a  wrong  because  others  did. 

Another  such  tribute  is  that  of  Matthew  Arnold  to  his 
father.  It  is  of  special  interest  because  the  father  in  this 
instance  was  a  teacher,  the  headmaster  of  Rugby,  who 
inspired  not  only  his  son  but  a  host  of  other  men: 

And  through  thee  I  believe 

In  the  noble  and  great  who  are  gone; 

Pure  souls  honor’d  and  blest 
By  former  ages,  who  else  .  .  . 

Seem’d  but  a  dream  of  the  heart, 

Seem’d  but  a  cry  of  desire. 

Yes!  I  believe  that  there  Hved 
Others  like  thee  in  the  past  .  .  . 

.  .  .  Souls  temper’d  with  fire, 

Fervent,  heroic,  and  good. 

Helpers  and  friends  of  mankind. 

There  can  be  no  such  thing  as  educating  the  sentiments 
by  themselves.  To  set  out  to  educate  feelings  as  deliber¬ 
ately,  let  us  say,  as  we  set  aside  time  for  gymnastic  exercise, 
is  worse  than  useless.  Feelings  never  exist  in  isolation. 
They  accompany  activities  and  ideas,  and  it  is  in  these 
that  they  find  their  justification.  Our  main  concern,  there¬ 
fore,  is  to  introduce  our  young  people  to  the  soundest 
ideas  and  the  worthiest  of  activities  and  let  these  work 
their  own  transforming  effect.  Anything  else  breeds  senti¬ 
mentality,  the  curse  that  lies  in  cherishing  feeling  for  its 
own  sake. 

And  finally,  important  as  it  is  to  touch  the  feelings,  this 
does  not  mean  that  the  atmosphere  of  the  school  must  be 
tense  with  emotion.  Some  teachers  seem  to  believe  with 


328  EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 

certain  types  of  revivalist  that  moral  ardor  requires  on 
their  part  a  constant  effort  at  more  and  more  stirring  meth¬ 
ods  of  appeal.  Whatever  may  be  said  for  these  methods  in 
the  treatment  of  hardened  adult  sinners — and  even  here 
their  value  is  dubious — the  task  of  the  school  is  different. 
To  kindle  the  steady  glow  Avhich  warms  the  sense  of  duty  in 
the  relatively  uneventful  details  of  the  daily  living,  there 
is  no  need  to  start  moral  bonfires.® 

Besides,  to  change  the  figure,  by  continued  thunder  on 
the  louder  chords  we  make  it  impossible  to  accentuate  prop¬ 
erly.  Where  every  phrase  is  played  fortissimo,  what  terrific 
pounding  is  needed  to  create  the  necessary  sense  of  propor¬ 
tion  !  All  in  all,  it  must  be  repeated,  our  pupils  ’  salvation 
is  not  to  he  won  by  attendance  at  single  ethics  lessons  or 
impressive  pageants  nor  even  at  whole  courses.  Character 
is  a  matter  of  slow  growth  depending  occasionally,  to  be 
sure,  on  the  performance  of  a  single  striking  act  here  and 
there,  or  on  some  rare,  penetrating  flash  of  moral  percep¬ 
tion  ;  hut  in  the  vast  majority  of  instances,  moral  growth  is 
a  matter  of  the  steady,  cumulative  effect  of  quite  obscure 
performances,  with  a  slowly  increasing  insight  into  their 
richer  significance.  If,  to  our  impatient  expectation,  it 
seems  that  sufficient  enthusiasm  is  lacking,  it  will  hardly 
help  to  hurry  matters  vehemently.  All  that  we  can  do  is 
to  place  our  young  people  in  those  situations  where 
responses  of  feeling  are  usually  evoked.  We  can  only  bid 
them  look  upon  this  picture  and  on  that.  We  can  lead 
them  into  the  presence  of  the  sublime  realities  revealed  by 
the  lives  of  the  world’s  greatest.  We  can  bring  them  into 

8  One  of  the  writer’s  students  wrote  the  following  testimony  as 
to  the  harmful  after-effects  of  the  usual  ‘revival  method’:  ‘In  some 
cases  the  feeling  is  wrought  up  so  much  that  after  people  come  to 
their  normal  selves  again,  they  almost  hate  the  place  where  their 
feelings  were  played  upon  and  the  person  who  did  it.’  An  excellent 
discussion  of  this  problem  will  be  found  in  H.  C.  King,  Personal 
and  Ideal  Elements  in  Education,  Chapters  on  revival  methods. 


THE  POWER  OP  THE  FEELINGS 


329 


touch  with  earth’s  profoundest  inspirations  recorded  in 
art,  in  story,  in  sacred  writing.  Whether  the  glow  we  wish 
will  be  kindled  in  every  case,  we  cannot  always  be  certain. 
We  must,  however,  begin  and  end  our  work  in  the  spirit 
of  the  teacher ’s  ultimate  trust :  never  assume  that  any  pupil 
is  doomed  to  permanent  insensibility  on  every  side  of  his 
nature.  Then,  without  relaxing  our  efforts  to  understand 
our  problem  better,  our  hopes  will  also  have  their  salutary 
patience. 


Questions  and  Problems 

1.  Study  people  of  your  acquaintance  from  the  viewpoint  of  their 
response  to  emotional  appeals.  Would  you  say  that  those 
whose  response  is  quicker  are  of  a  higher  moral  type? 

2.  Explain  why  many  schools  are  prone  to  neglect  the  cultivation 
of  feeling. 

3.  Recall  personalities  that  have  influenced  your  life.  To  what 
do  you  attribute  their  influence? 

4.  With  all  the  preaching  done  in  schools,  church,  and  elsewhere, 
why  is  not  the  world  much  better  than  it  is? 

5.  Are  persons  with  a  highly  developed  sense  of  beauty  more 
likely  than  others  to  respond  to  ethical  appeals?  (See  Haw¬ 
thorne’s  thoughts  on  this  in  connection  with  Clifford  Pyncheon 
in  The  House  of  the  Seven  Gables.) 

6.  Read  George  Eliot’s  essay  Debasing  the  Moral  Currency  and 
illustrate  from  the  life  of  to-day. 

7.  Illustrate  from  your  own  experiences  or  reading  how  a  lower 
affection  was  expelled  by  a  higher. 

8.  ^‘It  is  on  the  wings  of  enthusiasm  that  we  rise.”  Illustrate.  If 
this  is  true,  what  is  the  function  of  intelligence? 

9.  Illustrate  the  truth  and  the  limitations  of  the  statement  that 
moral  standards  are  catching. 


References 

See,  besides  references  quoted  in  text : 

Chambers,  W.  G.,  “The  Evolution  of  Ideals,”  Pedagogical  Semi- 
nary,  Vol.  X. 


330 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


Chubb,  Percival,  Festivals  and  Plays. 

Hall,  G.  S.,  Adolescence,  Ch.  X. 

Hill,  D.  S.,  “Comparative  Study  of  Children's  Ideals,”  Pedagogi¬ 
cal  Seminary,  Vol.  XVIII. 

Horne,  H.  H.,  Psychological  Principles  of  Education,  Part  IH. 
King,  H.  C.,  Personal  and  Ideal  Elements  in  Education. 
Klappkr,  Paul,  Principles  of  Educational  Practice,  Ch.  XXH. 


CHAPTER  XVI 


RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

The  criticism  is  sometimes  made  that  the  school  of  to-day 
is  godless  and  that  it  can  never  fulfil  its  mission  of  charac¬ 
ter-building  until  it  abandons  its  present  policy  and  teaches 
religion.  The  relation  between  religion  and  character  is 
indeed  close  and  important.  But  in  much  of  the  discussion 
on  this  subject,  the  essential  fact  is  overlooked  that  char¬ 
acter  determines  the  religious  outlook  quite  as  certainly 
as  religion  shapes  character,  and  perhaps  even  more.  Al¬ 
though  it  is  true  that  great  multitudes  are  made  better  by 
the  inspirations  fostered  in  the  churches,  these  inspirations 
are  themselves  the  outcome  of  what  people  make  of  their 
moral  opportunities.  A  clearer  understanding  of  this 
dependence  of  religion  upon  ethical  experience  will  do  much 
to  settle  many  a  question  now  vexing  parents  and  school 
boards. 

At  the  outset,  it  must  be  recognized  that  the  absence  of 
religion  from  the  schools  to-day  goes  back  to  something 
more  than  the  desire  to  continue  our  necessary  policy  of 
neutrality.  Important  as  it  is  that  schools  maintained  by 
the  taxes  of  all  the  people  should  not  teach  the  beliefs  of 
any  one  sect,  is  it  not  also  true  that  people  are  hardly  as 
deeply  concerned  about  religion  to-day  as  they  once  were? 
The  churches  will  be  here  for  long  years  to  come,  and  in 
many  of  them  the  religious  life  is  as  active  and  sincere  as 
can  be  wished.  But  to  gauge  the  religious  atmosphere,  all 

we  need  do  is  to  contrast  the  majority  of  church-goers 

331 


332 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


to-day  with,  let  us  say,  the  Pilgrim  fathers  and  their 
descendants  up  to  a  few  generations  ago.  Religion  scarcely 
means  to  the  latest  descendants  the  tremendously  vital  con¬ 
cern  it  was  to  the  ancestors.  To  many  a  church-goer, 
religion  is  at  best  a  point  of  good  form,  and  church  attend¬ 
ance  a  chance  for  sociability,  hardly  different  in  kind  from 
belonging  to  a  social  club.  Nor  may  we  overlook  the 
dwindling  attendance  complained  of  everywhere.  There 
are  growing  numbers  of  those  to  whom  religion,  whether 
orthodox  or  liberal,  is  frankly  of  very  little  concern  what¬ 
ever,  or  none  at  all.  If  religious  teaching  is  introduced 
into  the  public  schools,  it  is  likely  to  be,  in  the  main,  at  the 
instigation  of  energetic  groups  who  really  represent  only 
minorities. 

This  is  said  with  no  desire  to  underprize  the  value  of 
religious  belief.  The  moral  power  encouraged  by  the  old 
reverences  is  beyond  question.  People  who  got  from  their 
religion  a  compelling  sense  of  exalted  aims  for  the  guidance 
of  their  lives  were,  to  that  extent,  better  than  their  easy¬ 
going,  jaunty  descendants  who  never  put  the  fundamental 
questions  at  all.  When  one  looks  around  and  sees  the  cheap, 
superficial  smartness  of  many  a  disbeliever,  the  frivolity, 
the  tawdry  emptiness  of  many  a  life  that  finds  it  easy  to 
laugh  at  the  faith  of  older  days,  one  wishes  that  these  per¬ 
sons  could  feel  but  the  least  touch  of  the  religious  earnest¬ 
ness  that  dignified  the  lives  of  their  forbears. 

But  without  entering  upon  the  reasons  for  the  decline 
of  belief,  we  must  accept  the  fact  that  many  people  to-day, 
by  no  means  either  frivolous  or  dishonest,  find  it  impossible 
to  believe  as  their  ancestors  did.  Are  they  imperiling  the 
moral  salvation  of  their  children  by  not  teaching  them  the 
old  faith  ?  And  how,  they  ask  themselves,  shall  they  respect 
the  child’s  right  to  choose  its  own  religion  and  at  the  same 
time  protect  it  against  the  mischief  attending  exposure  to  . 
the  mercy  of  chance?  The  answers  to  these  questions,  we 


RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 


333 


believe,  will  throw  light  on  the  problem  of  so-called  godless¬ 
ness  not  only  in  the  home  but  in  the  schools  as  well. 

Letting  things  alone  will  not  meet  the  situation.  It  is 
right  that  a  parent  should  hesitate  to  bind  his  child’s  mind. 
But  other  people,  he  will  discover,  are  not  so  scrupulous 
about  letting  his  child  alone.  On  every  side  impressions, 
beliefs,  views  of  all  sorts  will  compete  for  the  child’s  alle¬ 
giance.  The  parent’s  choice  is  not  whether  his  children’s 
views  are  going  to  be  influenced  or  remain  uninfluenced. 
The  alternative  is  rather  whose  promptings  the  child  is  to 
receive,  a  haphazard,  careless,  perhaps  mischievous  indoc¬ 
trination  from  strangers,  or  the  help,  carefully-planned,  of 
the  ones  who  love  the  child  most.  The  growth  of  character 
— for  the  sake  of  which  the  plea  for  religious  education  is 
now  uttered — cannot  be  the  result  of  accident.  The  poorer 
types  of  personality  may  be  expected  to  breed  anywhere, 
but  the  flower  of  excellence  demands  the  most  painstaking 
cultivation. 

A  mere  introduction  to  the  beliefs  of  many  religions 
will  not  solve  the  problem.  It  is  right  that  children 
should  be  saved  from  the  absurd  provincialism  which 
regards  the  “heathen”  of  China,  India,  Arabia  as  illiterate 
barbarians.  The  claims  of  intellectual  culture  alone,  if 
there  were  no  higher  grounds,  would  forbid  any  such  per- 
'  version.  But  the  chief  virtue  of  the  orthodox  training,  it 
must  be  remembered,  was  its  concentration,  its  repeated 
and  exclusive  stress  upon  one  or  two  leading  motives.  Its 
strength  lay  in  its  intensity,  a  value  that  attempts  at 
breadth  for  its  own  sake  will  never  realize.  Fortunately 
there  is  an  opportunity  to  provide  a  training  that  does 
possess  the  necessary  intensiveness.  We  mean  ethical  train¬ 
ing — a  training  in  character  pursued  with  all  the  focal 
earnestness  which  the  orthodox  give  to  religious  nurture. 
It  is  the  writer’s  conviction  that  an  ethical  training — not 


334 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


moral  instruction  alone  or  any  other  single  device,  but  an 
intensive  cultivation  of  the  moral  life  at  its  best — will  do 
these  two  things:  (1)  It  will  give  the  child  all  the  moral 
sustenance  that  a  “religious”  education  can  give  without 
binding  him  to  beliefs  he  may  feel  called  upon  later  to  dis¬ 
card.  (2)  It  will  provide  the  best  basis  for  whatever 
religious  beliefs  he  may  come  later  to  profess.  To  make  this 
clear  it  is  necessary  to  dwell  at  length  upon  the  fact  that 
religious  beliefs  themselves  depend  upon  the  quality  of  our 
ethical  experiences. 

The  view  here  offered  is  not  at  all  novel.  Its  ancestry 
may  be  traced  in  part  to  Aristotle ’s  reminder  that  ‘  ‘  he  who 
is  to  understand  the  principles  of  nobleness  should  have 
been  well  trained  in  habits.  ’  ^  There  are  abundant  illustra¬ 
tions  of  this  dependence  of  belief  upon  practice.  To  Macbeth 
upon  the  throne,  existence  has  become  utterly  futile,  “a 
tale  told  by  an  idiot,  full  of  sound  and  fury,  signifying 
nothing.  ’  ’  His  soliloquy  sums  up  the  experience  of  all  who 
look  back  like  him  over  lives  misdirected,  and  to  whom, 
therefore,  the  business  of  living  the  declining  years  has 
become  only  a  leaden-footed  journey  to  the  grave.  Nothing 
else  could  be  expected  of  one  whose  own  conduct  had  killed 
the  best  in  himself.  A  testimony  in  the  other  direction 
appears  in  George  Rennan^s  report  from  Siberia  on  the 
aged  worker  for  Russian  freedom,  Catherine  Breshkovsky : 
“Neither  hardship,  nor  exile,  nor  penal  servitude  had  been 
able  to  break  her  brave,  finely  tempered  spirit,  or  to  shake 
her  convictions  of  honor  and  duty.” 

These  instances  each  of  us  may  supplement  with  experi¬ 
ences  of  our  own.  Try  to  persuade  a  man  who  has  always 
lived  loosely  that  such  a  life  is  wrong,  and  we  learn  quickly 
enough  how  largely  philosophies  are  shaped  by  what  people 
actually  do.  Or  see,  on  the  other  hand,  how  men  and 
women  who  have  always  been  accustomed  to  consider  the 
needs  of  the  poor  meet  the  suggestion  that  their  kindness 


RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 


335 


is  folly.  Nothing  is  more  completely  reasonable  to  them 
than  their  own  generosity,  and  the  explanation  is  simply 
that  they  have  always  lived  that  way.  That  is  why  their 
principles  are  really  convictions — beliefs  that  ‘^conquer, 
that  take  hold  of  them  with  power. 

In  practice,  this  means  that  nobody  can  get  his  religion 
on  the  authority  of  a  faith  held  bj^  somebody  else.  How 
often  people  give  up  the  faith  which  they  thought  they  had 
entertained  in  earlier  years  simply  because  they  had  only 
imagined  it  was  theirs!  What  they  had  supposed  was  a 
genuine  belief  was  the  faith  of  somebody  else,  of  their 
parents  or  their  Sunday-school  teachers.  It  was  a  product 
passed  on  to  the  children  as  something  ready-made,  finished, 
perfect,  to  be  imparted  to  the  young  in  infant-size  packages 
week  after  week.  If  the  child  was  puzzled  at  the  theological 
conceptions  dealt  out  to  him,  few  thought  of  welcoming  the 
difficulty  as  a  good  sign.  We  are  never  puzzled  until  we 
begin  to  think  upon  our  own  account.  But  when  a  child 
put  questions  which  showed  that  he  was  trying  to  find  his 
own  way  through  a  difficulty,  at  once  a  ready-made  answer 
was  put  forward  as  final. 

In  consequence,  the  child  reached  not  religious  convic¬ 
tions  but  more  or  less  good-natured  acquiescence  in  the 
faith  of  somebody  else.  Not  that  help  from  others  is  to  be 
slighted.  Strange  indeed  would  that  person  be — if  it  were 
even  possible  for  him  to  exist  at  all — whose  thoughts  took 
no  color  from  the  thinking  of  those  before  him  and  about 
him.  But  when  all  due  weight  has  been  given  to  the 
importance  of  having  parents  who  believe  with  all  their 
hearts  in  some  commanding  ideal  goal  for  life,  it  yet 
remains  true,  as  Emerson  said,  that  what  another  can  offer 
is  not  instruction,  but  provocation.  He  can  show  what  he 
himself  has  found  best  or  where  those  who  have  gone  before 
have  either  halted  or  drawn  inspiration  and  fared  further. 
He  can  try  to  win  a  love  for  this  road  rather  than  that. 


336 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


Beyond  this  none  can  help.  We  must  tread  our  several 
paths  ourselves. 

And  no  path  is  surer  than  that  of  moral  experience. 
When  people  declare  that  even  though  they  themselves  no 
longer  possess  a  compelling  belief  in  God,  they  must  assume 
it  for  fear  that  the  character  of  their  children  will  somehow 
suffer  without  such  a  faith,  they  misread  the  relationship 
between  faith  and  practice.  The  right  order  puts  the  prac¬ 
tice  first.  If  the  history  of  Hebrew-Christian  tradition 
reveals  anything  at  all,  it  tells  that  this  is  the  source  whence 
its  sublimest  doctrines  arose.  What  is  now  the  creed  or 
dogma  was  once  the  ardent  conviction  of  a  soul  on  fire  with 
high  ethical  seriousness,  and,  if  we  are  to  have  morally 
helpful  religious  convictions  to-day,  this  is  the  way  to  get 
them. 

To  illustrate :  A  sensitive  soul  in  our  own  time  is  touched, 
let  us  say,  by  the  burdens  imposed  on  children  by  life  in 
the  slums.  He  sets  to  work  to  remove  their  handicap.  The 
more  deeply  he  enters  into  his  task,  the  more  he  is  convinced 
that  he  is  right,  and  the  more  sure  he  is  that  everybody 
who  can  should  assist.  He  draws  on  every  possible  source 
of  help — writing  to  the  papers,  publishing  books,  as  Dickens 
or  Jacob  Riis  did,  addressing  meetings,  petitioning  public 
officers,  organizing  committees,  enlisting  his  friends  and 
associates.  Everybody  must  work  with  him,  and  the  more 
earnestly  he  holds  to  his  purpose,  the  more  certain  he  is  that 
all  will  some  day  back  it  up — the  city,  the  nation,  and  a 
Divine  Providence,  too,  if  he  believes  in  one. 

It  was  by  some  such  process  that  synagogue  and  church 
came  to  possess  the  doctrines  which  they  preach  to-day. 
The  God  of  the  people  Israel  was  not  always  the  God  who 
desired  his  children  to  do  justice  above  all  else.  He  became 
that  kind  of  deity  only  when  the  passion  for  a  better  justice 
took  possession  of  men  on  earth.  Some  Amos  beheld  the 
miseries  of  the  poor.  He  saw  debtors  sold  into  slavery  for 


RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 


337 


lack  of  the  price  to  pay  for  a  pair  of  shoes.  He  saw  injus¬ 
tice  driving  through  the  streets  in  ivory  chariots  and  the 
nation  looking  on  unashamed.  The  spectacle  was  too  much 
for  him.  His  people  must  be  rescued,  the  poor  from  their 
oppression,  the  community  from  its  moral  indifference.  In 
his  mind’s  eye,  he  beheld  a  picture  of  this  misery  banished 
and  his  people  elevated  to  a  truer  sense  of  their  duties. 
And  the  more  he  dwelt  upon  this  image,  the  more  he  turned 
for  help  to  his  people’s  God.  And  who  was  this  God?  A 
deity  powerful  enough  to  send  plagues  and  to  fell  the  oaks 
with  his  thunderbolts — surely  he  was  mighty  enough  to  put 
a  stop  to  the  evils  in  Israel !  At  this  point  came  the  greatest 
step  forward  in  the  religion  of  the  Jews — when  it  flashed 
upon  the  souls  of  the  more  morally  gifted  that  this  God  of 
the  lightning  bolt,  before  whom  the  trembling  worshipers 
laid  their  sacrifices,  would  turn,  not  to  the  side  of  the  plen¬ 
teous  offering,  but  to  the  side  of  morality  and  social  justice. 
That  is  why  the  synagogue  to-day  has  a  God  to  worship 
who  is  at  all  entitled  on  moral  grounds  to  reverence.  For 
the  belief  in  a  deity  better  than  the  thunder  god  on  Sinai 
before  whom  good  and  bad  alike  were  obliged  to  tremble, 
the  thanks  are  due  to  the  men  with  the  moral  fire  in  their 
souls.  If  they  had  never  risen  to  this  vision  of  a  perfect 
society,  they  would  not  have  cared  whether  their  deity  was 
a  god  of  justice  or  only  of  sheer  brute  power,  an  exalted 
magician  like  other  gods  of  old. 

Be  the  deity  who  or  what  he  may,  he  always  reflects  the 
moral  attainments  of  his  worshipers.  There  was  a  time 
when  the  God  of  the  Jews  ordered  them  to  slay  women  and 
children.  “Happy  shall  he  be  that  dasheth  thy  little  ones 
against  the  stones,  ’  ’  says  the  Psalmist ;  but  this  view  simply 
endorsed  the  prevailing  practice  of  men,  a  practice  which, 
because  they  themselves  approved  it,  they  could  then  regard 
as  right.  The  word  of  the  deity  always  sanctions  what  his 
worshipers  already  do  and  command.  The  Crusaders  rode 


338 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


into  battle  with  songs  about  Christ  the  warrior,  not  the 
meek  sufferer.  Our  moral  experiences  and  convictions  de¬ 
cide  what  the  image  of  our  deity  is  to  be.  If,  therefore, 
Jews  have  noble  doctrines  to  believe  to-day,  it  would  seem 
reasonable  to  suppose  that  these  ideas  came  as  a  conse¬ 
quence  of  noble  experiences  lived  out  by  their  fathers. 

The  history  of  Christian  doctrine  likewise  illustrates  this 
relationship.  Jesus  is  a  Jew  in  whom  love  for  his  fellow 
beings  is  unusually  strong  and  fine.  There  is  something 
markedly  tender  in  his  feeling  for  those  who  have  been 
hurt  by  life’s  uglier  visitations.  Hence,  he  makes  a  point 
of  seeking  out  just  these — the  poor  and  the  sick,  the  out¬ 
casts,  the  drunkards,  the  wayward,  in  all  of  whom  he  dis¬ 
cerns  something  precious  and  worth  the  loving.  It  is  no 
wonder  that,  when  he  wants  help  for  them,  he  turns  to  the 
Father  in  heaven;  but  the  kind  of  father  to  whom  he 
appeals  is  not  the  stern  dispenser  of  justice ;  he  is  a  parent 
with  a  brooding  love  like  Jesus’  own.  And  one  of  the  utter¬ 
ances  attributed  to  Jesus  puts  so  unmistakably  the  psy¬ 
chology  of  the  dependence  of  creed  upon  conduct  that  one 
wonders  w^hy  its  importance  is  so  frequently  ignored :  ‘  ‘  He 
that  loveth  not  his  brother,  whom  he  hath  seen,  cannot  love 
God,  whom  he  hath  not  seen.  ’  ’  The  deed  first,  then  the  doc¬ 
trine.  Without  that  sequence,  where  would  the  churches 
to-day  have  any  doctrines  at  all  worth  preaching  ? 

It  will  be  objected  that  what  is  said  here  reverses  the 
proper  order,  since  ethical  practices  are  shaped  by  religious 
beliefs  and  since  both  the  religious  beliefs  and  the  ethical 
principles  have  come  as  a  revelation  from  the  source  of  all 
life.  To  discuss  these  ultimate  origins  is  beyond  the  pur¬ 
pose  of  this  chapter.  That  men’s  conduct  is  influenced  by 
their  religious  convictions  is  undoubted.  But,  as  we  have 
seen,  these  convictions  are  themselves  affected  by  the  believ¬ 
ers’  ethical  experiences.  In  other  words,  the  initial  cause 


RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 


339 


of  the  process  is  of  less  consequence  to  the  educator  than 
the  fact  that  the  moral  experiences  and  the  moral  beliefs 
are  more  immediately  in  his  power  to  influence. 

Translated  into  practice,  this  requires  that  whatever 
religious  beliefs  our  children  at  last  reach  must  be  grounded 
in  their  own  conduct  and  their  own  thinking.  Before  the 
facts  of  religious  experience  can  be  interpreted  adequately, 
our  major  effort  must  go  into  providing  an  intensive  devel¬ 
opment  of  the  best  ethical  experiences  themselves.  If,  as  a 
result,  the  children  then  enroll  themselves  among  the  believ¬ 
ers  in  God,  this  belief  will  have  been  rooted  into  the  best 
of  soil.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  they  believe  in  their  adult 
years  that  the  traditional  religions  cannot  be  theirs,  where 
is  the  harm  if  their  lives  are  indeed  ethical  ? 

We  shall  understand  this  further  if  we  consider  the 
ethical  attitude  in  such  a  fertile  field  for  religious  experi¬ 
ence  as  the  problem  of  evil.  In  some  form  or  other,  sooner 
or  later,  it  crosses  the  path  of  every  child’s  life.  A  girl 
who  had  just  recovered  from  a  severe  illness  was  told  that 
the  cause  was  a  disease  germ  and  that  people  catch  germs 
from  one  another.  Some  time  later,  she  asked  “Who  made 
the  first  germ  ?  ’  ’  Should  the  answer  have  been  ‘  ‘  God  made 
it?”  Yes,  if  this  was  the  parents’  belief.  If  it  was  not, 
the  only  answer  was,  “We  do  not  know.”  It  is  not  true, 
as  some  insist,  that  the  child  mind  requires  the  positive 
answer  “God”  or  the  positive  answer  “Nature.”  The 
imagination  of  the  child  is  more  genuinely  stirred  by  the 
mystery  encountered  in  trying  to  think  back  and  back  and 
still  further  back.  To  answer  “Nature ”  is  to  have  the  child 
think  of  Nature  as  some  kind  of  powerful  person  and  as 
one  who  invented  a  disease  germ  only  a  space  of  a  few  years 
ago — a  long  span  to  the  mind  of  a  child.  Explain,  how¬ 
ever,  that  we  do  not  know  but  that  life  comes  from  pre¬ 
existing  life,  and  the  child  is  more  likely  to  feel  a  sense  of 
vastness  and  mystery. 


340 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


The  ethical  attitude,  however,  is  not  primarily  interested 
in  intellectual  solutions  or  in  problems  of  origin.  Its  inter¬ 
est  is  in  ideals — how  things  ought  to  turn  out.  Evil  is 
something  not  so  much  to  be  explained  in  terms  of  ultimate 
origins  as  to  be  put  down.  It  is  less  important  to  know 
who  made  the  first  disease  germ  or  the  first  foul  thing  of 
any  kind  than  it  is  to  know  on  which  side  your  life  is  going 
to  be  enlisted,  on  the  side  of  the  disease  germ  or  of  those 
who  fight  it.  The  main  point  is  this  practical  attitude. 
Evil  is  to  be  overcome,  and,  at  every  step,  our  service  to 
children  must  consist  in  helping  them  learn  how. 

With  the  youngest  children  the  method  is  very  simple. 
In  their  world,  the  bad  must  always  be  defeated.  Red 
Riding  Hood  must  be  rescued  and  Jack  get  the  better  of 
the  Giant  every  time.  Only  the  friendliest  expressions  on 
the  face  of  the  W'orld  must  be  sho\\Ti  to  them  in  their 
stories,  in  the  love  of  flowers  and  birds  and  sunshine,  in  the 
fostering  care  bestowed  upon  them  by  their  own  homes. 
Where  they  come  upon  the  sadder  experiences,  for  example, 
in  the  suffering  of  animals  or  of  people,  acts  of  kindness  of 
their  own  must  remove  the  sting.  Where  they  meet  evil  in 
stories,  ^ilways  the  good  must  conquer. 

When  they  outgrow  the  fairy-tale  stage,  let  them  see 
evil  as  put  down  by  real  people,  by  the  heroes  of  history 
and  of  everyday  life.  Almost  every  story  they  read  in 
history  is  a  tale  of  evil,  but,  at  their  stage  of  life,  the  empha¬ 
sis  must  always  rest  on  the  triumph  of  bravery  and  wit 
and  the  cooperation  of  the  good.  Again  their  own  chari¬ 
ties,  kindnesses,  and  the  activities  discussed  in  an  earlier 
chapter  are  to  make  real  the  meaning  of  right  effort. 

From  the  age  of  about  twelve  on,  though  the  children  still 
need  to  be  encouraged  by  seeing  how  the  good  wins,  their 
confidence  should  be  interpenetrated  now  with  some  sense 
of  the  immensity  of  the  task.  It  is  at  about  this  stage  that 
they  begin  to  be  aware  of  the  shadows  accompanying  the 


RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 


341 


brighter  side  of  life’s  pictures.  They  see  the  long  roll  of 
centuries  it  took  the  world  to  rid  itself  of  such  evils  as 
slavery.  They  begin  to  realize  that  poetic  justice  is  not 
always  done  in  life  as  it  is  in  their  literature,  but  that  often 
good  men  and  women  suffer.  Or  they  see  how  the  excel¬ 
lence  in  life  is  accompanied  by  its  evils,  how  the  liberties 
of  men,  for  example,  have  been  purchased  by  the  cruelest  of 
bloody  conflicts,  how  religion  went  hand  in  hand  with  per¬ 
secution  perpetrated  by  people  who  were  not  deliberately 
cruel  but  often  quite  sincere  in  believing  such  conduct  to 
be  a  duty.  Or  they  grow  conscious  of  imperfection  in  those 
whom  they  had  once  beheld  in  the  light  of  full-orbed  hero- 
worship.  In  many  ways,  this  period  is  full  of  questionings 
unfamiliar  to  the  earlier  stage. 

This  is  therefore  the  time  to  prepare  for  appreciation 
of  the  supersensible  character  of  genuine  ideals.  Now  that 
the  young  people  begin  to  realize  that  perfection  is  further 
off  than  they  had  once  supposed,  they  are  better  prepared 
to  understand  how  the  ideal  of  the  best  always  outruns 
the  very  best  of  achievement.  When  the  adolescent,  unlike 
the  child,  realizes  that  there  are  ills  which  cannot  be  cured 
by  immediate  acts  of  charity,  we  can  use  this  new  under¬ 
standing  to  intensify  what  desires  he  has  for  a  world  of 
progress.  Not  at  all  that  youth  is  pessimistic  or  ought  to 
be.  The  normal  adolescent,  if  he  is  aware  that  things  are 
wrong,  is  buoyantly  confident  that  they  can  all  be  set  right. 
His  faith  needs  to  be  fused  with  some  perception  of  the 
immensities  of  the  problem  and  the  sublimity  of  the  ideal 
goals,  once  these  are  pitched  as  high  as  the  truth  requires. 

We  can  help  by  clarification  in  two  directions:  (1)  by  an 
attempt  to  deepen  and  enlighten  the  sense  of  the  inherent 
saeredness  of  human  life  and  (2)  by  interpretation  of  the 
meaning  of  ethical  power. 

It  is  a  great  day  when  one  first  appreciates  that  there  is 
something  holy  about  people,  something  that  we  can  think 


342 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


of  with  only  a  kind  of  breathless  awe  and  that  forbids  us 
to  mistreat  them.  In  the  life  of  primitive  man,  mere  things 
were  believed  to  possess  this  sacrosanct  quality — stones, 
statues,  strings  of  beads,  the  charms  used  by  the  priests. 
The  ancestors  of  Mohammed  used  to  kiss  with  all  reverence 
a  certain  black  stone  at  Mecca.  Most  of  these  holy  objects 
were  holy  in  the  sense  of  being  untouchable.  In  ancient 
Israel,  the  ark  was  holy  in  this  sense.  So  sacred  was  it  that 
to  touch  it,  as  Uzzah  did  when  the  oxen  stumbled  and  the 
man  involuntarily  put  out  his  hand  to  keep  it  from  falling, 
was  followed  by  his  instant  death. 

One  of  the  big  steps  forward  was  taken  by  the  race  when 
men  turned  from  the  idea  of  holiness  attaching  to  mere 
things  and  transferred  the  idea  to  holiness  in  people.  It 
was  this  profound  sense  of  an  inherent  sacredness  in  man 
that  led  the  Hebrews  to  lay  such  stress  on  the  command¬ 
ments  forbidding  one  to  maltreat  a  fellow  man,  to  enslave 
him,  to  deny  him  food  and  shelter,  to  take  his  life  or  the 
property  needed  to  sustain  his  life — in  short,  to  use  him 
as  one  might  use  a  thing. 

On  its  negative  side,  this  conception  may  be  brought 
liome  to  young  people  whenever  their  feelings  are  touched 
by  stories  of  man’s  inhumanity  to  man.  The  tragedies  of 
history  have  always  arisen  where  the  sacred  thing  in  man 
was  trampled  upon  by  tyrannies,  by  religious  bigotries,  by 
commercial  exploitation.  In  1903,  for  example,  during  the 
Russo-Japanese  war,  a  Russian  commander  decided  that 
to  save  future  trouble,  it  was  necessarv  to  strike  terror  into 
the  Chinese  at  Blayovestchenk,  a  city  on  the  Amoor.  The 
whole  town  was  ordered  to  clear  out.  There  were  no 
steamers  or  other  conveyances.  Drive  them  into  the 
river,  ’  ’  was  the  order ;  and  it  was  executed.^  Examples  of 
this  sort  of  thing  are  painfully  abundant  in  history.  They 


1  W.  Morgan  Shuster,  Strangling  of  Persia,  p.  220. 


RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 


343 


» 

should  be  brought  up  only  to  vivify  the  sense  of  the  sacred 
presence  thus  outraged  and  to  contrast  this  denial  of  human 
worth  with  the  acts  which  pay  that  worth  its  due  reverence. 

It  is  on  the  latter  that  heavier  stress  should  be  laid. 
Right  conduct  takes  on  a  religious  quality  to  the  extent  that 
it  leads  to  a  deepened  understanding  of  the  essential  worth 
in  every  life  and  of  the  ethical  power  that  such  worth 
exhibits  in  action.  How  is  this  conception  to  be  inter¬ 
preted?  We  are  not  thinking,  let  us  remember,  of  a  single 
lesson  or  two.  We  are  concerned  here  with  a  question  of 
feelings  and  attitudes  which  take  years  to  develop.  Indeed, 
all  life,  the  life  of  even  the  oldest  thinker,  is  a  matter  of 
growing  insight  into  the  nature  of  ethical  activity,  or  as 
we  shall  call  it  here,  spiritual  power. 

Contrast  will  help.  Children  understand,  for  example, 
what  physical  power  means — the  power  of  the  waterfall, 
or  the  wind,  or  the  lightning  bolt.  To  be  sure,  the  modern 
city  child  gets  less  of  the  sense  of  dread  might  at  work  in 
Nature  than  people  did  in  former  days  when  they  beheld 
black  clouds  rise  in  the  sky  and  roll  their  destruction  over 
a  valley.  Primitive  man  believed  that  there  must  be  mighty 
beings  behind  the  hurricane  and  the  lightning  bolt.  Our 
children  should  understand  this  attitude.  And  they  can 
be  helped  by  feeling  other  solemnities  of  Nature.  Words¬ 
worth  on  the  shore  of  Calais  is  inspired  with  a  religious 
calm  from  contact  with  Nature  ^s  powers  in  their  august 
repose ; 

It  is  a  beauteous  evening  calm  and  free ; 

The  holy  time  is  quiet  as  a  nun 
Breathless  with  adoration;  the  broad  sun 
Is  sinking  down  in  its  tranquillity ; 

The  gentleness  of  heaven  broods  o^er  the  sea. 

The  value  of  these  experiences  lies  in  their  helping  us 
understand  the  spiritual  power  which  is  far  more  deserving 
of  the  moods  of  reverence  than  the  mightiest  of  physical 


344 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


force.  Power  as  such  does  not  merit  worship.  It  may  be 
the  power  of  a  demon. 

Another  and  higher  kind  of  power  than  Nature’s  is  that 
displayed  in  the  intellect  of  man,  the  power  which  invents 
the  lightning  rod  and  steers  the  dread  energies  of  the 
thunderbolt  harmlessly  into  the  ground.  It  is  the  power 
that  has  invented  the  alphabet  and  that,  in  general,  has 
made  possible  so  many  of  the  achievements  of  civilization. 
The  awe  we  feel  for  it  is  suggested  in  these  lines  inscribed 
over  the  corridor  of  a  great  public  library : 

Speak  low,  tread  softly  through  these  halls  1 
Here  genius  lies  enshrined, 

Where  rest  in  silent  majesty 
The  monarchs  of  the  mind. 

But  again  we  would  not  have  the  child ’s  worship  content 
itself  with  a  power  of  this  kind.  Intellectual  power  is  not 
the  worthiest.  How  readily  it  has  lent  itseK  to  the  grossest 
misuse!  The  villainies  of  history  have  not  always  been 
the  work  of  sheer  brutes.  They  have  often  been  the  work 
of  highly-trained,  cunning  intellects.  The  deeds  of  ambi¬ 
tious  conquerors,  of  lying  diplomats,  of  the  vulpine  types 
of  one  sort  and  another,  make  it  impossible  to  worship  intel¬ 
lect  as  such. 

Highest  of  all  is  the  ethical  power  which  the  acts  of 
people  at  their  rarest  levels  can  only  suggest.  It  is  the  power 
at  work  in  the  imperative  we  feel  to  treat  fellow  beings 
with  the  utmost  justice,  or  the  power  in  the  sufferer  who, 
instead  of  letting  the  visitation  imprison  him  in  his  own 
self-centered  thought,  becomes  the  bringer  of  light  to  oth¬ 
ers;  or  it  is  the  power  of  those  “who  can  be  inspired  by 
great  purposes  without  hating  those  who  thwart  them,” 
nay,  which  can  go  out  to  these  opponents  in  the  forgiveness 
which  seeks  their  good.  Such  is  the  power  which  all  our 
various  efforts  at  ethical  training  are  intended  more  and 


RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  345 

more  to  call  out  in  all  the  countless  activities  of  the  good 
life. 

Our  children’s  understanding  of  this  power  must  come 
chiefly  through  the  exercise  of  it  in  their  own  lives.  The 
harm  in  the  old  religious  teaching  was  the  fact  that  it  so 
frequently  made  the  wrong  beginning,  trying  to  get  the 
child  to  understand  a  God  of  justice  and  love  without 
seeking  at  every  turn  to  have  children  appreciate  from  their 
own  practice  what  justice  and  love  really  meant.  The 
soundest  basis  for  a  religious  outlook  will  be  erected  on 
every  possible  act  of  kindness,  of  bravery,  of  generous  sym- 
pathy,  of  respect  for  man  as  man,  which  we  can  get  them 
to  do.  Every  noble  deed  that  they  themselves  perform  is 
to  be  a  help  to  the  understanding  of  a  still  vaster  and  nobler 
goodness  beyond  their  own  best.  The  ultimate  aim  is  to 
have  them  realize  that  there  is  a  righteousness  beyond  any 
righteousness  that  past  or  present  has  ever  embodied.  Its 
sublimities  are  suggested  in  part  by  the  boundless  extent  of 
the  stars:  ‘‘All  I  see  multiplied  as  high  as  I  can  cipher 
edge  but  the  limit  of  the  farther  systems.  Wider  and  wider 
they  spread,  expanding  always  expanding,  outward  and 
outward  and  forever  outward.”  The  more  sublime  reality 
is  the  perfect  life  unbeheld  of  the  bodily  eye  but  no  less 
real  than  the  mighty  depths  and  the  vast  reaches  of  the 
constellations. 

From  this  point  on,  school  and  home  will  follow  different 
courses,  for  the  religious  interpretation  of  what  has  here 
been  described  will  not  be  possible  in  schools.  But  our 
children  ought  to  know  how  the  traditional  religious  beliefs 
go  back  to  the  attempts  of  men  to  explain  the  origin  and 
the  nature  of  spiritual  power.  Even  those  who  do  not 
share  the  religious  faith  of  their  neighbors  owe  it  to  the 
children  to  have  them  understand  what  the  churches  are 
trying  to  teach.  Perhaps  the  best  plan  for  home  and 


346 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


church  is  to  use  the  historical  method — showing  how  the 
idea  of  divinity  has  changed  through  the  ages,  how  there 
was  a  time  in  Hebrew  history,  as  we  have  seen,  when  the 
sheer  physical  might  of  the  tribal  god  Jehovah  was  the 
main  thought,  and  how  the  yearning  for  a  better  justice 
led  to  the  idea  of  a  universal  God  who  commanded  all  men 
to  make  their  worship  consist  of  just  and  merciful  dealing. 

Let  the  children  see  that  the  God  idea  has  changed 
throughout  history,  that  it  centered  around  moral  experi¬ 
ence,  and  that  where  men  are  changing  it  to-day,  it  is  again 
because  of  the  broadening  and  deepening  of  the  world’s 
ethical  experiences.  In  some  homes,  for  instance,  the  par¬ 
ents  will  explain  that  they  find  it  hard  to  accept  the  symbol 
of  a  heavenly  King,  because  this  idea  goes  back  to  a  period 
before  the  age  of  democracy  when  men  everywhere  turned 
for  justice  and  mercy  to  earthly  kings.  The  changed  experi¬ 
ence  requires  a  new  symbol.  Some  people  to-day,  it  may 
be  pointed  out,  are  applying  the  social  conceptions  of  the 
time  to  their  theology  and  speaking  of  God  not  as  an  indi¬ 
vidual  but  as  a  society  of  beings.  Others,  like  Mr.  Wells, 
reflecting  the  futurist  tendencies  of  the  age,  will  have  no 
infinitude  to  their  deity  but  make  him  finite,  young, 
struggling. 

These  religious  interpretations  of  moral  experience  are 
problems  for  the  home  and  the  religious  society.  Obviously 
they  can  find  little  or  no  place  in  the  public  schools.  The 
function  of  the  latter  is  to  unify  and  harmonize  the  diver¬ 
sities  of  our  democracy.  Only  in  moral  education,  there¬ 
fore,  will  the  school  find  the  common  ground  on  which  the 
various  sects,  and  believers  and  non-believers,  can  best 
unite.  A  Roman  Catholic  will  differ  on  many  points  with 
his  Protestant,  Jewish,  or  non-believing  neighbors,  but  all 
of  these  will  have  at  heart  the  same  desire  that  their  chil¬ 
dren  grow  up  to  be  honorable  men  and  women,  living  fine, 
upright,  unselfish,  public-spirited  lives. 


RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 


347 


Whatever  the  place  and  value  of  religious  beliefs  may 
be — and  differences  seem  likely  always  to  persist — the  school 
I  is  not  the  place  to  make  children  conscious  of  them. 
Ideally,  it  would  be  splendid  if  we  had  teachers  so  gifted 
and  so  broad-minded  that  just  as  they  teach  ethical  values 
in  Shakespeare,  they  could  interpret  the  best  in  the  Bible 
in  ways  that  all  the  community  could  accept.  Every  pos¬ 
sible  help  to  the  making  of  better  souls  is  urgently  needed. 
But,  facing  the  facts  as  they  are,  we  shall  find  it  better  to 
concentrate  upon  agencies  less  likely  to  revive  ancient  quar¬ 
rels.  The  churches  can  make  their  contribution  directly 
through  the  homes.  They  can  offer  it  indirectly  to  the 
schools  through  inspiring  higher  ideals  of  professional  serv¬ 
ice  in  the  teachers  and  through  backing  up  every  civic  effort 
to  enable  the  school  better  to  perform  its  functions. 

The  final  outcome  need  not  cause  any  very  grave  concern. 
The  essential  consideration  is  that  the  children  obtain  the 
moral  training  which  is  indispensable  even  to  religious 
belief.  If  their  ethical  experience  brings  them  to  believe 
in  a  supreme  nobility,  a  perfect  God  on  high  as  the  giver 
of  the  moral  law,  then  this  belief  will  come  by  the  best  route 
it  can  travel.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  we  have  induced  in 
their  young  lives  the  best  conduct  of  which  they  are 
capable,  and  they  think  later  that  religious  belief  is  not 
necessitated  for  them,  the  school  has  not  failed.  There  may 
be  mean  ways  of  believing  and  noble  ways  of  disbelieving ; 
or  there  may  be  noble  ways  of  belief  and  mean  ways  of 
disbelief.  In  themselves  belief  and  disbelief  are  of  vastly 
less  consequence  than  the  depth,  the  earnestness  of  the 
moral  practice  by  which  one  works  his  way  toward  either. 
If  growth  in  character  is  cherished  as  sufficient  in  itself, 
our  children  will  be  getting  the  only  result  which  gives 
religious  teachings  their  reason  for  being  and  the  only 
product  which  loss  of  doctrinal  beliefs  does  not  necessarily 
destroy.  Nobody  has  any  right  to  expect  of  the  public 


348 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


school  that  it  bring  children  to  this  or  that  conclusion  with 
respect  to  God.  We  do  have  the  right  to  ask  that  it  help 
every  boy  and  girl  to  give  every  act  of  hand  and  brain 
which  can  make  life  nobler. 

That  such  an  obligation  to  contribute  our  best  is  laid 
upon  all  of  us  we  can  never  teach  children  by  philosophic 
argument.  We  ourselves  are  never  convinced  by  that 
method.  We  know  that  the  better  way  is  to  live  the  good 
life  first.  The  philosophy  follows  as  the  outcome  of  such  an 
attempt  and  thus  alone  becomes  a  genuine  inspiration  to 
still  better  living,  out  of  which  in  turn  a  still  nobler  philos¬ 
ophy  issues,  and  so  on  in  ever-broadening  expansion  upon 
ever-loftier  planes.  Principles  become  real  to  us  only  in 
the  effort  to  live  them  out.  It  is  related  that  some  who 
listened  to  the  Man  of  Nazareth  raised  the  question  whether 
what  he  said  came  from  the  Father  on  high.  His  answer 
was :  ^  ‘  If  any  man  willeth  to  do  His  will,  he  shall  know  of 
the  teaching.”  So  likewise  there  is  but  one  sure  way  to 
the  realization  that  of  the  many  aims  competing  for  the 
energies  of  heart  and  mind,  there  is  a  moral  highest  to  be 
given  supreme  place.  The  attempt  to  live  the  life  will  bring 
the  conviction. 


Questions  and  Problems 

1.  In  what  ways,  if  any,  do  you  find  your  religious  beliefs  to 
have  changed  through  larger  experience  of  life? 

2.  To  what  do  you  attribute  the  modern  decline  in  church 
attendance  ? 

3.  ‘‘Do  you  shiver  violently,  faintly,  or  not  at  all  at  the  word 
‘unbeliever’?”  How  do  you  account  for  the  fact  that  the 
word  carries  less  of  the  stigma  conveyed  in  earlier  days? 

4.  “On  one  occasion  Governor  Winthrop  paid  a  visit  of  state 
to  Bradford,  the  governor  at  Plymouth.  .  .  .  Arrived  at 
Plymouth,  all  repaired  to  church  .  .  .  and  a  religious  ques¬ 
tion  was  started  in  honor  of  the  guests.”  Why  does  this 
sound  strange  to-day?  Would  you  say  that  the  change  indi¬ 
cates  a  decline? 


RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 


349 


5.  Consult  the  biography  of  Louis  Pasteur  for  the  influence 
exercised  on  a  scientist’s  life  by  his  religion.  But  see  also 
the  biographies  of  Mill  and  Huxley. 

6.  Report  on  the  conflict  between  the  two  generations  in  Edmund 
Gosse,  Father  and  Son. 

7.  “Life  is  good  to  the  extent  that  we  give  it  to  good  causes.” 
Draw  up  a  list  of  such  causes  in  the  order  of  their  importance 
to  you. 

8.  When  does  respect  transform  itself  into  worship?  What 
educational  practice  does  this  suggest? 

9.  How  do  you  account  for  the  fact  that  some  Sunday-school 
teaching  drives  people  away  from  the  church  of  their  child¬ 
hood? 

10.  Explain  Emerson’s  statement :  “All  the  victories  of  religion 
belong  to  the  moral  sentiments.” 

11.  Discuss  the  advantages  and  disadvantages  of  having  public- 
school  children  of  different  religions  go  to  separate  rooms  for 
religious  instruction  for  a  given  period  each  week. 


References 

See,  besides  references  quoted  in  text: 

Adler,  Felix,  The  Moral  Instruction  of  Children. 

Betts,  G.  H.,  How  to  Teach  Beligion. 

Coe,  G.  a.,  Education  in  Religion  and  Morals;  A  Social  Theory  of 
Religious  Education. 

Cope,  H.  F.,  Education  for  Democracy,  Ch.  Ill,  IV,  VII,  XV. 
Dawson,  G.  E.,  The  Child  and  His  Religion. 

Emerson,  R.  W.,  “The  Sovereignty  of  Ethics,”  Lectures  and 
Biographies. 

Hall,  G.  S.,  Youth,  Ch.  XII. 

Hartshorne,  H.,  Childhood  and  Character. 

Hodges,  George,  Training  of  Children  in  Religion. 

Horne,  H.  H.,  Idealism  in  Education,  Ch.  V;  Psychological  Prin¬ 
ciples  of  Education,  Part  V. 

King,  Irving,  The  Development  of  Religion. 

Leuba,  J.  H.,  The  Belief  in  God  and  Immortality ;  The  Psycho¬ 
logical  Study  of  Religion. 

Richardson,  N.  E.,  The  Religious  Education  of  Adolescents. 
Rotce,  Josiah,  The  Philosophy  of  Loyalty. 


350  EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 

Religious  Education,  magazine  published  by  the  Religious  Educa¬ 
tion  Association. 

Salter,  W.  M.,  Ethical  Religion. 

Starbuck,  E.  D.,  The  Psychology  of  Religion. 

WiLM,  E.  C.,  ^‘Religious  Life  of  High-School  Students,”  Ch. 
XXX,  C.  H.  Johnston,  Modern  High  SchooL 


CHAPTER  XVII 


THE  TEACHER 

A  WOMAN  who  had  given  forty  years  of  her  life  to  work 
in  reformatories  and  prisons  was  once  asked,  “Do  you 
not  find  your  occupation  terribly  depressing  ?  ”  “  No,  ”  she 
replied ;  ‘  ‘  not  all  the  preachers  in  the  land  could  teach  me 
spiritually  what  these  convicts  are  teaching  me,  or  give  me 
such  faith  in  the  ultimate  destiny  of  the  human  soul.  ^ 

If  this  reward  came  to  one  whose  years  were  spent  in 
contact  with  life’s  failures,  what  shall  be  said  of  the  com¬ 
pensations  to  those  who  are  privileged  to  work  with  the 
unspoiled  young  and  be  friend  and  guide  to  hopeful  youth  ? 
Like  every  worker,  the  teacher  meets  those  trying,  sandy 
stretches  where  the  question  forces  itself  upon  him,  “What 
is  the  sense  in  sticking  at  a  job  like  this?”  At  college 
reunions,  he  obsers^es  classmates  who  have  done  more  strik¬ 
ing  things  in  the  world,  who  see  more  tangible  returns  and 
have  certainly  “prospered”  to  a  greater  degree.  At  such 
times  everything  for  him  depends  on  his  faith  in  the  prin¬ 
ciple  which  he  is  at  pains  to  have  his  students  understand, 
that  in  the  final  reckoning,  what  counts  is  one’s  scale  of 
values.  If  success  in  life  means  the  ordinary  thing,  then 
the  returns  undoubtedly  show  that  his  investment  has 
hardly  been  prudent.  But  what  if  his  dividends  must  be 
of  the  rarer  and  better  sort  ? 

Such  indeed  do  come  to  him.  Is  it  much  or  little  to  be 
kept  young  by  contact  with  youth  and  by,  what  is  even 


1  W.  L.  Taylor,  The  Man  Behind  the  Bars. 

361 


352 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


better,  its  friendship?  Is  it  a  slight  return  that  his  work 
has  helped  his  own  mind  to  grow?  To  be  sure,  if  he  had 
devoted  himself  entirely  to  research  and  been  spared  the 
distractions  of  teaching,  he  might  perhaps  have  made  him¬ 
self  the  distinguished  specialist.  But  recompense  for  this 
loss,  too,  has  come.  Association  with  youth  has  kept  him 
younger  than  he  might  otherwise  be,  younger  in  the  sense 
that  his  horizons  have  been  kept  wider  and  his  interests 
broader  because  the  interests  of  youth  are  so  winningly 
many-sided.  The  young  constitute  a  perpetual  protest 
against  overspecialization.  All  their  happy  spontaneity, 
even  their  waywardness,  is  a  constant  challenge  to  the  spirit 
that  would  lock  life  up  forever  into  a  few  classroom 
formulas. 

The  touch  of  youth  is  endlessly  provocative.  No  teacher 
can  put  himself  at  the  point  of  view  of  the  young  without 
reading  a  new  meaning  in  everything  he  teaches.  If  it  is 
history,  then  he  sees  the  struggles  of  men  in  a  new  light; 
if  it  is  art,  then  the  beauty  he  is  trying  to  win  them  to  love 
is  heightened  for  himself.  It  is  customary  to  think  of  the 
poet  as  essentially  the  interpreter,  the  one  whose  task  it  is 
to  lift  the  veil  from  the  face  of  things  familiar  and  show 
a  splendor  we  had  else  not  marked.  But  the  teacher  is  no 
less  an  interpreter.  His  reward  is  his  own  enriched  seeing. 

What  does  he  interpret?  Some  two  centuries  ago,  the 
attention  of  savants  was  called  to  the  case  of  the  ^‘wild 
boy  of  Avignon”  found  in  the  forest  by  a  party  of  hunters. 
This  was  a  child  who  had  been  lost  in  his  infancy  and  by 
some  marvel  of  good  chance,  had  been  kept  alive  in  the 
woods  till  about  his  tenth  year.  His  hair  and  nails  were 
inordinately  long ;  his  skin  was  more  like  an  animal ’s  than 
a  child’s.  He  could  neither  speak  nor  understand  a  single 
word.  His  face  had  none  of  the  expressions  that  reflect 
the  civilizing  influences  of  home  and  school.  His  entire 
demeanor  was  simply  an  exhibit  of  what  results  when  these 


THE  TEACHER 


353 


*  influences  are  absent.  All  that  he  had  missed  we  recog¬ 
nize  as  the  things  for  the  agencies  of  civilization  to  supply. 

His  teachers  would  have  sifted  for  him  from  the  myriad 
acquisitions  of  the  past  those  that  would  have  best  enabled 
him  to  become  the  better  person.  Not  all  that  the  past  has 
wrought  can  be  handed  on,  or  deserves  to  be.  The  teacher 
is  to  select.  And  what  a  privilege !  The  thoughts  that  the 
ages  have  found  true  and  wholesome,  the  dreams  they  have 
cherished,  the  treasures  of  matchless  beauty  that  lift  man 
worlds  above  the  level  of  the  brute — to  all  these  at  their 
best  it  is  the  teacher’s  privilege  to  introduce  his  charges. 
With  a  world  stretching  endlessly  ahead 

like  a  land  of  dreams 
So  various,  so  beautiful,  so  new, 

all  sorts  of  noble  choices  may  be  theirs  for  the  mere  asking. 
Deeply  privileged  is  the  task  of  the  one  who  is  there  to 
help  them  choose  wisely.  It  is  a  function  which  we  have 
compared  with  that  of  the  poet  who  interprets,  but  it  is  an 
office  even  higher  than  his.  When  the  poet  draws  aside  the 
veil,  he  calls  to  us  to  enjoy.  The  teacher  bids  us  take  what 
we  see  into  our  lives  with  something  more  inclusive  than 
enjoyment.  He  invites  us  to  contribute  to  the  making  of 
a  life  still  better. 

His  special  reward  is  the  chance  to  keep  this  aim  bright 
before  his  own  eyes  with  each  new  class  that  enters  his 
room.  No  one  can  try  to  explain  to  another  the  details  of 
a  house  or  a  landscape  without  clarifying  his  own  mental 
picture.  So,  by  trying  to  interpret  to  the  young  the  inex¬ 
haustibly  interesting  world  in  which  they  and  he  dwell 
together,  he  learns  to  read  its  meanings  more  ably  for  him¬ 
self.  The  effort  to  kindle  a  love  of  the  things  most  excellent 
helps  him  to  rate  them  the  more  highly  for  his  own  life. 

Prom  many  sources  this  return  comes  to  him.  The  joy, 
already  mentioned,  of  sharing  the  unwearied  curiosity  of 


354 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


the  young  is  one.  Another  is  the  constant  challenge  to  his 
own  self-respect  in  the  trust  imposed  in  him  by  children 
and  parents.  Teachers  who  are  asked  to  take  charge  of 
ethics  classes  or  Sunday  groups  or  clubs  in  settlements 
sometimes  reply,  ‘  ‘  I  hardly  think  I  am  good  enough  for  the 
task.  ’  ^  But  this  confession  is  really  the  sign  of  an  essential 
qualification.  When  one  thinks  of  all  the  high  demands 
his  work  entails,  the  wisdom,  the  patience,  the  unflagging 
faith  in  the  verities  he  professes,  one  is  obliged  to  say  to 
himself  in  sober  truth  that  no  person  is  ever  fit  to  be  a 
teacher,  any  more  than  he  is  fit  to  be  a  parent.  But  such 
partial  fitness  as  we  are  ever  permitted  to  possess  is 
achieved  only  by  practice,  and  the  first  step  to  it  is  the 
confession  that  we  do  not  merit  the  honor  it  is  to  teach 
aright.  We  are  to  make  ourselves  more  fit  by  practice,  and 
not  the  least  of  the  incentives  is  the  faith  our  pupils  and 
their  parents  place  in  us.  Their  trust  is  a  rebuke,  but  it  is 
also  an  inspiring  illumination. 

Not  less  is  the  enlightenment  afforded  by  the  teacher’s 
failures.  It  is  the  special  joy  of  the  teacher  to  know  that 
part  of  the  credit  for  the  good  his  pupils  do  in  the  world 
is  his.  He  meets  them  later  in  life,  and  he  is  touched  when 
they  make  a  point  of  telling  him,  “This  and  this  which  I 
learned  from  you  has  been  a  help  to  me.  ’  ’  The  true  teacher 
learns  to  distinguish  between  what  is  genuine  in  these  testi¬ 
monies  and  what  is  only  polite  fiction.  He  is  entitled  to  the 
joy  they  bring  him.  But  the  defeats  must  also  be  faced, 
and  in  this  experience,  too,  there  is  compensation.  The 
teacher  thinks  of  the  pupils  who  were  unresponsive,  and  it 
is  slight  consolation  to  say  that  but  for  the  school  they 
might  have  been  worse.  His  task  is  more  positive.  Then 
he  sees  other  types  of  failure.  Here  is  the  lad  who  does 
respond  as  long  as  he  remains  protected  by  innocence  in 
the  sheltering  seclusion  of  the  school.  But  ten  years  later 
the  boy  comes  back  a  man  whose  life  is  a  tale  of  many  a 


THE  TEACHER 


355 


low  surrender.  The  type  is  common  enough.  The  crooked 
politician,  the  merchant  who  plays  the  game  shabbily,  the 
so-called  man  of  the  world  (his  “world,”  forsooth,  a  sty), 
or — ^what  is  often  more  trying — the  immense  number  of 
the  inert,  the  worldly,  the  flippant,  the  clotted,  blandly 
apathetic  souls,  all  these  were  once  pupils  who  gave  promise 
of  a  better  use  of  their  gifts.  To  the  teacher  sensitive  to 
the  high  demands  of  his  calling,  such  experiences  are  at 
first  disheartening.  But  they  bring  their  recompense. 
They  send  him  home  again  to  his  vision  of  the  life  that 
ought  to  be.  He  sees  once  more  the  types  of  life  that  these 
failures  and  all  the  others,  the  partial  successes  as  well, 
have  it  in  them  to  become  at  their  ideal  best.  The  contrast 
makes  more  splendid  for  him  the  grandeur  of  that  spiritual 
landscape,  and  it  turns  him  again  to  his  work,  humbled 
but  the  more  convinced  that  his  efforts  are  more  than  ever 
needed. 

These  are  among  tne  teacher’s  compensations.  But  his 
calling,  like  every  man’s,  has  its  special  perils.  Notorious, 
for  instance,  is  the  danger  of  egotism.  To  be  looked  up  to 
by  so  many  may  impel  a  man  to  the  modest  disclaimer 
voiced  by  Socrates,  but  its  effects  may  be  far  less  chasten¬ 
ing  too.  How  hard  it  is  for  many  teachers  to  bear  contra¬ 
diction  !  It  is  worlds  easier  to  let  the  habit  grow  of  laying 
down  the  law:  “This  is  the  last  word  on  the  subject; 
believe  it  and  you  are  right ;  disbelieve  and  suffer.  ’  ’ 

Teachers,  like  other  autocrats,  fail  to  realize  that  a  dog¬ 
matic  veto  upon  opposition  stops  discussion,  but  rarely 
stops  thought.  The  lad  whose  objections  are  brushed  aside 
will  justify  himself  in  silence.  Letting  him  speak  up 
brings  out  into  the  open  the  dissent  that  otherwise  might 
not  be  answered  satisfactorily,  the  very  kind  that  evidently 
means  most.  Our  young  people  accuse  us  of  blinking  the 
facts  of  life,  and  no  charge,  if  it  is  true,  can  be  more  fatal. 


356 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


At  the  very  least,  we  can  avoid  this  pitfall  by  a  generous 
readiness  to  hear  the  other  side.  “It  is  not  the  falsehood 
of  sophistry  which  is  to  he  feared,”  said  Lowell  in  his 
paper  on  Lincoln,  “but  the  grain  of  truth  mingled  with  it 
to  make  it  specious.”  Only  by  conceding  what  is  true  in 
the  opposing  case,  can  we  hope  to  bring  home  the  larger 
truth  which  the  fallacy  obscures. 

And  why,  for  that  matter,  must  the  teacher  always  seem 
to  his  pupils  omniscient?  His  function  is  not  to  supply 
information,  but  to  cultivate  thoughtfulness,  to  quicken  the 
desire  to  think  soundly  upon  ethical  issues,  to  kindle  hunger 
for  the  quest  of  moral  truth.  The  final  word  has  by  no 
means  been  spoken  on  every  moral  problem.  Especially 
in  an  age  of  such  unusually  rapid  transition  as  the  present, 
the  right  way  is  not  always  as  clear  as  noon.  There  is  no 
greater  service  the  teacher  can  perform  than  to  impress 
upon  his  students  that  the  first  essential  to  right  life  is  the 
search  for  truth,  with  humility  in  the  quest,  and  with  frank 
willingness  to  confess  where  we  are  baffled.  His  example 
will  tell,  more  impressively  than  anything  he  can  say,  that 
ethical  wisdom  is  not  a  preachment  handed  down  by  per¬ 
sonified  infallibility,  but  a  quest,  not  always  over  easy 
roads,  undertaken  jointly  by  teacher  and  students.  He  is, 
of  course,  the  older  and  the  more  experienced,  else  he  would 
have  no  warrant  to  face  his  class.  For  that  very  reason, 
however,  he  will  exemplify  the  modesty  indispensable  to 
the  proper  conduct  of  the  pursuit.^ 

Another  source  of  danger  is  pedantry,  at  bottom  a  false 

2  Caution  must  be  sounded  against  letting  an  ethics  lesson  degen¬ 
erate  into  an  exercise  in  hair-splitting  or  into  a  chance  to  argue  for 
the  sheer  fun  of  talking.  One  fundamental  proposition  it  is  futile 
to  debate,  namely:  “Why  we  should  do  the  right?”  We  must  take 
it  for  granted  that  normal  human  beings  want  to  do  right,  that  there 
is  no  need  to  waste  time  over  this  axiom  but  that  we  have  to  learn 
what  is  right  in  given  situations  and  how  right  solutions  can  best 
be  reached. 


THE  TEACHER 


357 


perspective  as  to  moral  values.  Why  must  teachers  paint 
in  so  deep  a  scarlet  the  offenses  that  are  either  trifling  or 
likely  to  be  outgrown  without  much  urging  ?  Is  it  because 
examinations  bulk  so  large  that  the  lad  who  prompts  his 
neighbor  must  be  treated  as  an  utter  sinner,  regardless  of 
the  fact  that  his  purpose  is  kindly  ?  Non  vitae  sed  scholae 
discimus.  Montaigne’s  warning  is  still  timely.  What 
energy  is  still  misdirected,  for  example,  upon  securing  the 
negative,  sedentary  traits  which  show  up  well  when  the 
old-fashioned  visitor  enters  the  room  but  against  which  a 
sound  instinct  in  our  sturdiest  boys  and  girls  cannot  help 
rebelling?  Perhaps  the  trouble  is  that  many  teachers  see 
little  of  their  pupils  beyond  their  behavior  in  the  classroom. 
The  writer  recalls  a  college  teacher  whose  absurd  judgments 
made  him  the  laughing-stock  of  the  students.  He  would 
seat  close  to  his  desk,  where  his  eye  could  observe  freely, 
a  student  whom  the  others  all  knew  to  be  the  soul  of  honor. 
He  trusted'  another  whom  they  knew  to  be  the  prize  bluff. 

But  teachers  as  a  rule  are  inclined  to  judge  in  terms  of 
classroom  virtues — so-called.  A  trick  of  seeming  deference 
carries  many  a  fraud  into  the  instructor’s  good  graces.  So 
do  more  creditable  qualities  that  are  nevertheless  not  the 
highest.  Teachers  are  attracted  by  patience  and  industry 
in  a  pupil ’s  attention  to  his  book,  forgetting  that  lago,  too, 
was  patient  and  persevering  and  probably  in  his  youth  was 
a  very  good  lad  in  the  classroom. 

The  consequences  are  disastrous  and  abundant.  The 
teacher’s  scale  of  values  exaggerates  the  acquiescent  traits. 
The  student  of  “good”  character  is  the  one  who  has  given 
no  occasion  for  censure.  Think  of  the  hordes  of  eminently 
respectable  but  harmless  citizens  who  pride  themselves  on 
the  fact  that  they  were  never  fined  or  arrested.  William 
James  mentions  a  hostlery  of  which  the  guidebook  said  that 
it  was  a  “temperance  hotel,”  but  beyond  this  it  possessed 
no  other  recommendations.  The  standard  is  familiar 


358 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


enough.  It  is  responsible  for  many  a  commencement  ad¬ 
dress  by  ‘‘leading”  citizens  whose  business  and  civic  prac¬ 
tices  are  dubious,  but  who  are  strong  in  their  warnings  to 
the  graduates  never  to  chew  or  to  smoke  or  to  play  cards. 
Such  persons  can  always  count  for  allies  upon  the  teacher 
who  fails  to  have  his  pupils  distinguish  between  the  thresh¬ 
old  virtues — the  instrumental  proprieties  that  are  by  no 
means  to  be  slighted — and  the  more  robust  excellences  re¬ 
quired  within  the  arena. 

The  teacher’s  vigilance  must  also  be  exercised  against  a 
professional  tendency  to  petrification.  “It  must  be  awful 
to  have  a  mind  as  rigid  as  yours,”  Mark  Twain  once  felt 
himself  obliged  to  reply  to  a  certain  critic.  “I  advise  you 
to  take  it  out  and  dance  on  it.  ’  ’  Then  he  added,  ‘  ‘  Also  use 
it  once  in  a  while.”  We  use  our  minds,  the  functional 
psychologists  have  been  telling  us,  when  we  encounter  diffi¬ 
culties.  This  may  be  one  explanation  of  the  teacher’s 
occupational  peril.  After  a  few  years,  his  work  becomes 
too  easy  from  treading  the  same  round  too  often.  In  other 
callings,  the  stress  of  competition  supplies  a  corrective.  The 
merchant  must  keep  abreast  of  his  rivals ;  the  lawyer  must 
meet  alert  antagonists;  the  doctor  may  lose  cases  which 
better-informed  colleagues  save.  The  teacher,  alas,  is  too 
often  spared  these  incentives.  In  the  army,  there  exists 
what  is  known  as  a  “  plucking  board  ’  ’  to  retire  officers  who 
have  grown  fat  and  lazy.  It  would  be  an  excellent  thing 
for  the  teacher  to  constitute  himself  his  own  plucking 
board,  and  long  before  superannuation  is  reached.  To 
many  a  pedagogue  it  would  be  a  help  if  his  lesson  notes 
were  all  consumed  by  a  kindly  fire.  The  thrill  of  inventing 
a  new  way  to  treat  an  old  subject  would  be  tonic. 

But  the  community  must  also  do  its  part.  The  drudgery 
of  clerical  work,  the  inadequate  salaries  which  oblige  many 
teachers  to  take  on  extra  occupations,  the  shamefully  large 
size  of  the  classes  in  public  schools,  the  tendency  of  supe- 


THE  TEACHER 


359 


riors  to  prefer  old  and  tested  methods  to  the  risks  attending 
experiment,  do  much  to  encourage  the  process  of  spiritual 
hardening.  The  Ethical  Culture  School  in  New  York  has 
set  a  notable  example  in  the  better  direction.  It  grants  to 
all  its  teachers,  to  those  in  the  kindergarten  no  less  than 
to  those  in  the  Normal  Department,  the  seventh-year  holi¬ 
day  given  in  the  universities.  The  teacher  of  the  youngest 
child  has  every  whit  the  same  need  as  the  others  to  cultivate 
fresh  contacts,  to  stand  aside  from  her  work  and  survey  it 
from  a  new  angle,  to  come  back  invigorated  by  new  study, 
or  travel,  or  other  stimulating  experience.  Some  nine  or 
ten  cities  in  America  now  grant  such  absences,  but  only 
these  few  have  yet  caught  the  idea.®  Our  citizens  have  still 
to  learn  how  much  it  pays  to  put  taxes  into  better  life  for 
teachers. 

Akin  to  the  peril  of  rigidity  is  that  of  a  prejudice  in 
favor  of  immediately  obvious  results.  There  are  some 
things  in  the  teacher  ^s  work  that  can  indeed  be  graded. 
His  skill  can  be  judged  by  the  marks  his  class  gets  in  its 
Latin  and  mathematics  examinations.  But  there  is  also 
much  in  his  work  that  forever  defies  any  such  attempt  at 
external  measurement.  And  the  pity  is  that  he  himself, 
quite  as  often  as  the  supervisory  staff,  is  willing  to  accept 
this  fetish  of  the  immediately  tangible  result.  It  is  worlds 
easier  to  prepare  his  English  class  for  the  college  examina¬ 
tion  of  howsoever  free  a  type  than  to  rouse  the  lad  who 
thinks  poetry  all  nonsense  to  a  single  genuine  admiration. 
It  is  easier  to  see  whether  a  class  has  covered  the  ground 
in  the  history  textbook  than  it  is  to  guarantee  an  apprecia¬ 
tion  of  the  grave  ethical  import  in  the  tragedy  which  the 
cla^  is  studying  as  so  much  ‘‘assignment.’^ 

The  long  view  reveals  the  truer  aim.  Let  the  instructor 
recall  how  large  was  the  mass  of  finished  product  he  was 


s  On  this  subject,  see  School  and  Society,  September  3,  1921. 


360 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


called  upon  to  deliver  in  his  own  youth  and  how  much  less 
it  helped  him  than  many  an  experience  much  harder  to  set 
forth  palpably,  many  a  new  way  of  looking  at  life  sug^ 
gested  by  some  remark  or  example  coming  from  his  teacher, 
or,  what  is  often  more  effective,  the  stimulation  afforded  by 
school  comrades.  His  pupils  must  indeed  make  good;  life 
tests  them  not  by  intentions  but  by  performances.  But  the 
value  of  the  performances  may  never  be  regarded  as  final. 
What  they  get  out  of  the  honest  attempt  to  make  the  per¬ 
formances  better  is  the  thing  to  prize,  not  the  smoothly 
rounded  accomplishment,  but  the  growing  life.  It  gives 
greater  value  to  the  stained  drawing  paper  of  the  lad  who 
is  trying  to  improve  his  painfully  limited  powers  than  to 
the  neat  paper  of  the  boy  to  whom  the  task  is  altogether 
easy.  Perfect  beings  have  never  walked  this  earth  and 
never  will.  The  best  external  achievement  will  always  fall 
short.  Its  value  is  symbolic,  suggestive.  The  importance 
of  the  outward  act  is  that  it  helps  the  doer  to  understand 
better  the  line  of  growth  still  ahead. 

All  this  requires  an  unceasingly  freshened  attitude 
toward  the  young.  Danger  comes  in  the  tendency  to  regard 
them  in  the  lump,  to  think  of  them  as  a  “  class,  ^  ’  not  as  a 
group  of  persons  with  all  their  perverse  but  precious  dif¬ 
ferences,  or  to  single  out  for  favored  attention  the  ones 
with  some  special  attractiveness  of  feature  or  of  manner. 
The  teacher  ^s  charges  come  to  him  year  after  year,  class 
following  class,  selected  by  no  choice  of  his  from  homes  of 
varying  degrees  of  excellence  or  demerit.  If  only  all  thus 
thrust  upon  him  were  as  attractive  as  some  few  are ! 

But  his  task  is  assuredly  better  than  to  follow  this  line 
of  least  resistance.  Michelangelo  in  one  of  his  sonnets  pic¬ 
tures  the  sculptor  as  standing  before  his  block  of  marble 
and  saying  that  the  same  block  contains  either  hideousness 
or  beauty  according  to  what  the  artist’s  hand  succeeds  in 


THE  TEACHER 


361 


calling  forth.  This  duality  gives  the  teacher  his  chance, 
too.  It  calls  for  an  eye  that  sees  in  the  young  people  both 
the  repellent  characteristics  and  the  promise.  Pestalozzi, 
whose  work  at  Neuhof  with  children  of  the  least  attractive 
sorts  obliged  him  even  to  wash  and  comb  them,  kept  a  note¬ 
book  in  which  he  recorded  his  observations  on  the  growth 
of  each,  for  each  one  of  these  unlovely  youngsters  was  his 
special  concern.  He  seized  on  every  appearance  of  a  gift 
that  offered  the  slightest  hope.  Something  of  this  spirit 
the  teacher  would  do  well  to  bring  to  the  beginning  of  each 
term  and  to  the  days  when  his  reservoirs  of  faith  are  low. 
The  unattractive  types,  the  mentally  tongue-tied,  the  im¬ 
pudent,  the  furtive,  the  sluggish,  are  for  him  the  ones  who 
have  more  need  of  the  physician  than  those  that  are  whole. 
Let  him  be  alert  for  the  least  glimmer  of  attractiveness  he 
can  find.  Then  let  him  see  iii  his  mind ’s  eye  this  attractive 
quality  so  enlarged  that  it  covers  the  pupiPs  whole  nature 
and  expunges'  the  repellent  traits.  The  mental  picture  of 
the  child  at  his  best  tells  the  teacher  the  direction  his  efforts 
are  to  take.  It  impels  him  to  fresh  efforts  to  help  the  child 
himself  become  conscious  of  that  direction.^ 

No  student  is  a  hopeless  case  till  every  method  to  reach 
him  has  been  tried.  The  principal  of  a  school  for  “incor- 
rigibles  ’  ’  overheard  one  of  the  little  lads  saying  to  another, 
‘‘Those  gloves  you  got  on  came  from  the  charity.  When  I 
want  gloves,  I  go  and  get  them,”  meaning  of  course  by  the 
method  of  his  profession.  But  there  is  hope  for  a  pick¬ 
pocket  with  self-respect  enough  to  scorn  charity.  Children 
more  privileged  have  likewise  each  some  special  avenue  of 
hope.  The  reminder  is  necessary  because  we  forgot  some¬ 
times  that  there  are  high  levels  to  which  appeal  can  and 


4  One  way  that  may  be  found  useful  is  to  invite  the  pupil  to  share 
some  piece  of  extra  work;  for  example,  the  physics  teacher  may  ask 
him  to  help  get  the  laboratory  equipment  ready,  the  history  teacher, 
to  look  up  a  reference  or  prepare  a  map,  etc. 


362 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


should  be  addressed.  It  is  small  wonder  that  a  lofty  sense 
of  honor  is  so  often  lacking  when  we  think  how  little  appeal 
to  it  is  made  by  many  a  school.  Nobody  has  any  right  to 
say  that  the  poorest  of  specimens  is  dead  to  the  better  ap¬ 
peal  until  that  appeal  has  been  made  more  times  than  we 
ordinarily  prefer  to  count.  The  lad  whose  sense  of  honor 
is  untouched  will,  of  course,  have  to  be  watched  and  be  held 
to  the  mark  on  the  lower  level.  But  failure  to  address  the 
powers  available  on  the  higher  level  encourages  the  atrophy 
that  spells  death,  and  let  it  be  added,  invites  atrophy  in  the 
teacher  himself.  Life  is  fostered  in  the  quickening  of 
other  life. 

A  freshened  attitude  toward  fellow  teachers  is  also  indis¬ 
pensable.  The  teaching  staff  constitute  a  community  of 
their  own  with  abundant  occasion  for  the  practice  of  right 
relationships  among  themselves.  The  school  is  specially 
fortunate  where  esprit  de  corps  means,  not  only  willingness 
to  share  the  common  burden  and  to  accept  in  the  best  of 
grace  the  necessary  give  and  take,  but  a  hearty  desire  on 
the  part  of  each  of  the  staff  to  do  all  that  will  help  every 
other  member  do  his  best  work.  Willingness  to  see  where 
new  and  more  interesting  correlations  can  be  worked  out 
is  one  illustration.®  Such  opportunities  are  endless,  and 
all  who  take  them  are  helped  in  more  ways  than  one. 

There  is  perhaps  no  better  evidence  of  the  respect  in 
which  a  teacher  holds  his  calling  and  no  truer  way  to  re¬ 
animate  his  own  loyalty  than  his  attitude  toward  the  novice 
in  his  profession.  Many  a  young  recruit  loses  his  early 
enthusiasm  as  a  result  of  the  light,  indifferent,  possibly 
cynical  way  in  which  veteran  associates  have  come  to  re¬ 
gard  their  vocation.  The  better  sort  of  teacher  will  make 

5  A  class  studying  the  history  of  education  in  a  normal  department 
was  greatly  indebted  to  the  art  teacher  who  was  at  pains  to  provide 
material  for  an  understanding  of  Greek,  Medieval,  and  Renaissance 
ideals  by  drawing  upon  the  art  collection  of  the  school. 


THE  TEACHER 


363 


a  special  point  of  seeking  out  the  newcomer  and  helping 
him  to  a  high  conception  of  the  value  of  their  common 
calling. 

The  principal  enjoys  a  rare  opportunity  to  bring  about 
right  relations  in  the  teaching  community.  He  must  have 
in  mind  a  more  democratic  model  for  his  staff  than  the 
pattern  set  by  an  army  or  factory.  He  should  regard  him¬ 
self,  not  as  a  chief  drillmaster  issuing  orders  to  a  corps  of 
subordinate  drillmasters,  but  as  the  leader  of  a  group  of 
fellow  teachers,  each  of  whom  should  be  permitted  to  share 
to  the  full  extent  of  his  inclination  and  power  in  the  re¬ 
sponsibility  for  the  whole  school  community.  Teachers 
are  less  likely  to  be  indifferent  toward  the  management 
of  the  school  when  it  is  their  votes  that  decide  school 
policies. 

The  clue  to  right  relationships  is  the  consciousness  on 
the  part  of  the  teachers  that  they  are  under  a  joint  obliga¬ 
tion  to  raise  the  standards  of  their  profession.  In  every 
vocation,  there  is  a  service  to  be  performed  which  needs  to 
be  done  better  than  it  is  at  present.  In  the  case  of  the 
teacher,  this  task  is  the  elevating  of  America’s  conceptions* 
of  democratic  life. 

This  brings  us  to  one  of  the  most  vexatious  problems  of 
to-day,  the  question  raised  by  the  social  heresies  which 
many  teachers  have  come  to  accept.  We  touch  here  upon 
exceedingly  delicate  ground,  but  this  surely  is  no  excuse 
for  passing  it  by.  Sooner  or  later  the  problem  will  have 
to  be  faced  everywhere,  for  the  issues  at  stake  are  vital. 
They  test  our  professions  of  democracy  more  searchingly 
than  any  other  problem  our  schools  encounter.  They  are 
raised  in  such  questions  as  these :  What  attitude  shall  school 
boards  take  toward  teachers  who  are  active,  let  us  say,  in 
Socialist  circles,  or  toward  those  who  affiliate  themselves 
with  labor  unions  ?  Or  to  take  a  recent  occurrence :  Are  high- 
school  librarians  justified  in  discontinuing  the  circulation 


364 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


of  papers  like  the  Nation,  the  New  Republic,  the  Survey^ 
Shall  high-school  textbooks  in  history  be  permitted  to  give 
the  arguments  for  and  against  Socialism  ?  In  one  commu¬ 
nity  a  first-rate  textbook  which  had  been  used  for  years  was 
discovered,  in  the  period  of  alarm  following  the  Armistice, 
to  include  in  the  chapter  on  to-day’s  problems  four  pages 
setting  forth  the  pros  and  cons  of  Socialism  with  no  indica¬ 
tion  of  the  author’s  bias.  These  pages  were  ordered  to  be 
tom  out.  In  other  communities  the  entire  book  has  been 
banned,  though  for  many  years  before  the  War  it  had  won 
a  deservedly  high  reputation. 

Of  this  we  may  be  sure :  Just  as  long  as  schools  are  taught 
by  men  and  women  to  whom  their  convictions — conserva¬ 
tive,  liberal  or  radical,  as  the  case  may  be — appeal  strongly 
enough  to  constitute  a  real  force  in  their  lives,  we  shall 
have  these  differences  cropping  out  in  the  school  life  and 
threatening  what  would  otherwise  be  a  much  more  har¬ 
monious  relationship.  But  it  hardly  seems  too  optimistic 
to  trust  that  the  problem  is  not  insoluble.  A  spirit  of  fair¬ 
ness  all  around  will  not  only  prevent  undue  friction,  it 
•  will  not  only  redound  to  a  far  better  performance  of  the 
function  of  the  school  in  a  democracy,  but  it  will  also  go 
a  long  way  to  make  clearer  what  that  democracy  itself 
should  mean. 

To  the  writer  it  seems  that  the  greater  danger  at  present 
comes  from  the  conservatives.  To  declare,  as  one  state 
superintendent  did  in  opposing  the  formation  of  a  teachers  ’ 
union,  that  the  teachers  ’  obligations  were  like  those  of  fire¬ 
men,  policemen,  and  soldiers  is  to  reveal  a  rather  deplorably 
one-sided  view  of  the  teaching  function.  This  is  not  said 
to  justify  the  existence  of  labor  unions  among  teachers. 
There  are  reasons  for  opposition  to  teachers’  unions  even 
by  those  whose  politics  are  not  at  all  conservative.  We 
shall  not  debate  here  whether  the  aims  of  the  teachers’ 
unions  can  be  better  attained  by  forming  such  unions  or 


THE  TEACHER 


365 


not.®  A  more  fundamental  question  is  raised  by  declaring 
the  function  of  the  teacher  to  be  like  that  of  the  firemen, 
policemen,  and  soldiers. 

The  function  of  the  latter  is  essentially  protective,  pre¬ 
servative.  Who  ever  looks  upon  a  police  station  or  an 
armory  as  the  community’s  breeding-ground  for  higher 
ideals  ?  Nobody  thinks  of  policemen  and  soldiers  as  setting 
out  to  create  anything  better  than  already  exists.  They  are 
intended  simply  to  conserve  what  is  already  there.  This, 
however,  is  not  all  that  is  expected  of  the  teacher.  Un¬ 
doubtedly  his  function,  too,  is  to  help  conserve  what  the 
race  has  already  found  good,  but  this  is  only  half,  and  by 
no  means  necessarily  the  better  half,  of  his  task.  The  past 
has  no  sacredness  for  being  past.  Neither,  for  that  matter, 
is  there  anything  sacred  about  futurity.  The  point  is  sim¬ 
ply  that  what  has  been  found  good  in  the  past  should  be 
conserved  in  order  that  upon  it  still  better  may  be  erected. 

The  aim  of  education  for  citizenship  as  now  conceived  is  a 
preparation  for  the  same  old  citizenship  which  has  so  far  failed 
to  eliminate  the  shocking  hazards  and  crying  injustices  of  our 
social  and  political  life.  For  we  sedulously  inculcate  in  the 
coming  generation  exactly  the  same  illusions  and  the  same  ill- 
placed  confidence  in  existing  institutions  and  prevailing  notions 
that  have  brought  the  world  to  the  pass  in  which  we  find  it.  .  .  . 
Instead  of  having  [to-day’s  institutions  and  ideals]  represented 
to  [the  young]  as  standardized  and  sacred,  they  should  be  taught 
to  view  them  as  representing  half -solved  problems.^ 

But  is  there  anything  more  likely  to  retard  this  growth 
than  the  fiat  that  all  questions  of  public  right  and  wrong 
have  been  forever  settled,  that,  for  instance,  no  one  can 

6  Case  for  and  against  in  leaflet  published  by  Teachers’  Union,  70 
Fifth  Avenue,  New  York.  See  also  debate  in  Educational  Review, 
September,  1920,  and  The  Public  and  the  Schools,  Nos.  56,  57,  58,  60, 
issued  by  the  Public  Education  Association,  8  West  40th  Street, 
New  York. 

7  J.  H.  Robinson,  The  Mind  in  the  Making,  pp.  23,  220. 


366 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


work  for  the  Socialist  party  and  at  the  same  time  be  a 

creditable  American  citizen?  The  question  is  answered  by 

« 

putting  it.  Thomas  Jefferson  answered  it  in  his  first  in¬ 
augural  address  in  a  day  when  the  doctrines  of  the  French 
Revolution  were  as  much  feared  in  large  sections  of  Amer¬ 
ican  life  as  those  of  the  Russian  are  to-day : 

If  there  be  any  among  us  who  wish  to  dissolve  this  union  or  to 
change  its  republican  form,  let  them  stand  undisturbed  as  monu¬ 
ments  of  the  safety  with  which  error  of  opinion  may  be  tolerated 
where,  reason  is  left  free  to  combat  it. 

The  debt  of  civilization  to  its  dissenters  is  beyond  ques¬ 
tion.  As  Viscount  Bryce  well  says :  ® 

Room  should  be  found  in  every  country  for  men  who,  like  the 
prophets  in  ancient  Israel,  have,  along  with  their  wrath  at  the 
evils  of  their  own  time,  inspiring  visions  of  a  better  future  and 
the  right  to  speak  their  minds.  That  love  of  freedom  which  will 
bear  with  opposition  because  it  has  faith  in  the  victory  of  truth 
is  none  too  common.  Many  of  those  who  have  the  word  on  their 
lips  are  despots  at  heart.  Those  men  in  whom  that  love  seemed 
to  glow  with  the  hottest  flame  may  have  had  an  almost  excessive 
faith  in  its  power  for  good,  but  if  this  be  an  inflrmity,  it  is  an 
infirmity  of  noble  minds,  which  democracies  ought  to  honor.  .  .  . 
There  must  be  leaders  of  a  firmness  which  will  face  opprobrium 
and  defend  causes  for  the  moment  unpopular.  The  chief  defect 
of  public  opinion  is  its  tendency  in  times  of  excitement  to  over¬ 
bear  opposition  and  silence  the  voices  it  does  not  wish  to  hear. 
Courage  is  the  highest  and  perhaps  the  rarest  quality  among  poli¬ 
ticians.  It  is  especially  needed  in  democratic  countries. 

The  question  is  not  primarily  one  of  the  teacher’s  rights. 
It  is  essentially  a  question  of  the  best  interests  of  demo¬ 
cratic  life.  No  teacher  who  k  worth  his  salt  will  want  to 
continue  in  the  profession  if  he  must  be  at  pains  to  conceal 
the  fact  that  he  sides  with  the  minority  on  to-day’s  con¬ 
flicts  of  opinion.  To  drive  such  from  the  schools  will  mean 

8  James  Bryce,  Modern  Democracies,  Vol.  I,  pp.  59,  162.  See  also 
G.  A.  Coe,  ‘‘Religious  Education  and  Political  Conscience,”  Teaehera* 
College  Record,  September,  1922. 


THE  TEACHER 


367 


eventually  that  our  future  citizens  will  be  trained  only  by 
those  who  are  militantly  committed  to  the  preservation  of 
things  as  they  are  or  by  those  whom  fear  of  losing  their 
places  has  clubbed  into  ignominious  silence. 

Our  schools  are  then  to  be  hotbeds  of  radical  propa¬ 
ganda?  It  is  curious  how  easily  the  passion  of  conflict 
impels  to  extreme  statements.  This  is  not  a  plea  for  radical 
propaganda  at  all.  Most  of  the  teachers  who  are  working 
for  the  more  enlightened  attitude  recognize  that  it  is  quite 
unfair  to  expose  children  in  tax-supported  schools  where 
attendance  is  compulsory — and  especially  in  the  elementary 
grades,  to  whatever  propaganda  for  which  the  teacher  hap¬ 
pens  to  be  zealous.  They  know  that  a  religious  enthusiast 
might  seek  to  indoctrinate  his  helpless  charges  with  his 
views  on  religion.  The  Roman  Catholic  teacher  should  cer¬ 
tainly  not  teach  his  faith  in  a  public  school,  the  atheist 
atheism,  or  the  Christian  Scientist  the  beliefs  of  his  sect. 
No  more  should  the  Socialist  seek  to  win  converts  to  So¬ 
cialism  in  a  school  from  which  the  parents  are  not  free  to 
withdraw  the  pupils. 

But  if  the  principle  works  in  one  direction,  it  holds  good 
in  the  other  as  well.  Is  not  the  attempt  to  identify  Amer¬ 
icanism  with  anti-Socialism  also  propaganda  ?  Nobody  for¬ 
bids  the  local  banker,  for  example,  to  enter  the  school  and 
address  the  students  on  the  perils  of  Socialism.  Very  few 
at  present  challenge  his  right  to  tell  ‘‘immature  minds” 
that  criticism  of  our  present  method  of  conducting  industry 
is  un-American.  If  the  teacher  is  not  to  use  his  position  to 
make  propaganda  for  new  conceptions,  it  would  certainly 
seem  no  less  than  fair  that  propaganda  in  favor  of  things 
as  they  are  should  likewise  be  forbidden. 

In  the  second  place,  a  distinction  should  be  drawn  be¬ 
tween  propaganda  and  the  requirements  of  truthful  teach¬ 
ing.  The  teacher  of  history  must  not  go  out  of  his  way  to 
make  Socialists  of  his  pupils,  but,  if  in  the  discussion  of 


368 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


current  events,  questions  about  Russia  or  a  pressing  indus¬ 
trial  disturbance  are  raised,  is  he  to  permit  only  the  one 
side  to  be  presented,  the  side  which  most  of  the  papers  in 
his  community  are  likely  to  offer?  Is  he  true  to  his  func¬ 
tion  as  a  teacher  of  history  to  forbid  the  presentation  of 
the  other  side?  Are  we  to  forget  how  essential  to  his 
function  it  is  to  train  future  citizens  to  form  sound  judg¬ 
ments  ?  How  can  they  do  so  if  the  unpopular  side  is  denied 
a  fair  hearing? 

We  shall  never  get  anywhere  by  dodging  these  issues. 
In  the  long  run  nothing  will  work  more  grievious  damage 
to  young  people  ^s  respect  for  American  institutions  than 
the  discovery  they  will  make  some  day  or  other  that  schools 
may  misuse  the  flag  to  cover  a  policy  of  strict  committal 
to  the  existing  order  in  industry — a  committal  which  some 
persons  desire  to  make  as  complete  as  was  that  of  the 
schools  in  the  South  to  the  slave-holding  system.  What 
kind  of  civic  ideals  will  our  pupils  learn  when  they  realize 
that  a  teacher  can  be  dismissed  for  his  activity  in  the 
Socialist  party  but  that  no  one  seems  to  think  less  of  cer¬ 
tain  superintendents  and  principals  for  activity  in  political 
circles  which  are  orthodox  but  quite  unsavory  ? 

It  ought  not  to  be  impossible  to  reach  a  modus  vivendi 
on  these  matters.  In  Prance,  where  a  system  of  nation-wide 
moral  instruction  was  introduced  and  civic  duty  was  made 
the  central  idea,  all  shades  of  opinion  in  politics  and  eco¬ 
nomics  had  to  be  treated  with  respect.  The  textbooks, 
ranging  through  all  the  degrees  from  conservatism  to  radi¬ 
calism,  are  prepared  by  committees  in  which  all  the  varie¬ 
ties  of  opinion  are  represented,  and  from  these  lists  the 
teachers  are  free  to  accept  those  books  from  which  they  can 
teach  with  the  heartiest  accord.  Eventually  we  shall  have 
to  make  some  such  adjustment.  Radical  opinion  in  Amer¬ 
ica  is  not  going  to  be  killed  by  suppression.  In  the  long 
run  it  will  have  to  be  reckoned  with  on  some  such  basis  as 


THE  TEACHER 


369 


the  French  have  worked  out,  or  better,  let  us  hope.®  In  the 
meantime,  fair  play  will  carry  us  much  nearer  a  proper 
solution  than  the  present  temper  of  the  extremists  on  both 
sides. 

The  problem  bears  upon  the  fundamental  nature  of 
democracy,  and,  without  anti-climax,  it  touches  upon  a 
special  need  of  the  teacher  himself.  Reference  has  already 
been  made  to  the  narrowing  tendency  in  the  teacher’s 
work,  to  the  pedantry  and  the  unreality  attaching  to  his 
classroom  valuations.  One  of  his  great  needs  is  to  be  in 
active  touch  with  the  currents  of  life  outside  the  school. 
Why  are  teachers,  however,  represented  in  such  small  num¬ 
bers  on  public-spirited  committees,  in  civic  leagues,  and  the 
like?  Is  it  because  they  are  regarded  as  impractical?  Is 
it  because  their  dealing  with  the  young  unfits  them  to  deal 
with  adults?  If  so,  this  simply  indicates  the  more  how 
necessary  it  is,  for  the  education  of  the  teacher,  and  thus 
for  the  eventual  benefit  of  the  child  and  the  community,  to 
get  him  out  of  his  present  isolation,  to  draft  him  for  these 
public  undertakings  and  so  broaden  his  understanding  of 
life.  Lovers  of  Shakespeare  know  what  mischief  is  per¬ 
petrated  by  commentators  familiar  with  the  text  but  unac¬ 
quainted  with  the  life  on  which  the  plays  themselves  are 


9  On  this  problem  see  French  Educational  Ideals  of  To-Day,  An 
Anthology  of  Holders  of  French  Educational  Thought,  by  F.  Buis- 
son  and  F.  E.  Farrington  (World  Book  Co.,  1919).  This  book  is  an 
outcome  of  the  closer  relations  between  France  and  America  as  a 
result  of  the  War.  It  deserves  all  the  more  praise  for  including  in 
this  anthology  two  addresses  by  Jean  Jaues,  the  Socialist  leader 
whose  opposition  to  the  War  brought  about  his  assassination.  In 
one  of  these  addresses,  Jaures  tells  the  teachers  why  they  should  be 
Socialists  but  condemns  the  attempt  to  make  distinctly  Socialist 
propaganda  in  their  classrooms.  It  is  refreshing  to  see  how  the 
various  writers  listed  in  this  anthology,  differing  as  they  do  on  vital 
questions  of  religion  and  politics,  agree  in  urging  teachers  to  culti- 
vtite  in  their  pupils  the  spirit  of  fairness,  of  accuracy,  of  inquiry, 
and  the  open  mind. 


370 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


but  commentaries.  “The  scholar  loses  no  hour  in  which 
the  man  lives.  ’  ’ 

The  best  contacts  are  always  active.  One  such  oppor¬ 
tunity  to  put  new  life  into  the  teacher’s  work  is  to  make 
himself  a  missionary  in  behaK  of  a  better  relation  between 
school  and  community.  He  will  be  a  better  teacher,  it  goes 
without  saying,  if  he  learns  how  the  school  can  give  back 
better  service  to  the  community.  But  it  is  equally  essential 
for  him  to  do  his  part  toward  seeing  that  the  community 
gives  better  service  to  the  school.  Many  teachers  in  some 
of  our  cities  know  that  the  children  who  come  to  them  are 
prevented  by  bad  home  conditions  from  reaping  in  school 
the  full  benefits  they  are  expected  to  receive.  Thousands 
of  young  people  are  underfed.  They  sleep  in  hovels  where 
the  air  is  foul.  They  play  amid  surroundings  whose  filth 
and  other  degrading  effects  mock  the  efforts  of  the  school 
to  draw  them  to  a  love  of  things  clean  and  sweet.  The 
teacher  who  knows  these  facts  is  not  doing  his  full  duty 
unless  he  tries  as  a  citizen  to  get  these  obstacles  to  a  sound 
education  removed.  Let  him  speak  up  out  of  his  experi¬ 
ence.  His  fellow  citizens  need  to  know  from  him  how  the 
best  forces  for  good  citizenship  within  the  school  require 
all  the  backing  of  the  best  forces  outside. 

All  this,  in  short,  means  that  the  teacher’s  constant  need 
is  to  keep  himself  alive  by  acquiring  ever  new  insights  into 
the  meaning  of  his  work.  In  some  ways  it  has  been  a  great 
drawback  that  in  high  schools  and  colleges  people  teach 
only  a  single  subject.  As  compared  with  the  teacher  at  the 
other  end  of  the  ladder — the  kindergartner  or  the  mother — 
the  instructor  at  the  top  is  too  likely  to  regard  himseK  as 
the  teacher,  not  of  a  child,  but  of  a  subject,  and  one  subject 
out  of  many  whose  relation  to  one  another  in  practice, 
whatever  may  be  said  in  theory,  is  chiefly  that  each  is 
required  for  graduation.  It  is  no  wonder  that  teachers 
ossify  and  that  classes  so  often  emerge  from  the  educational 


THE  TEACHER 


371 


mill  scarcely  better  than  they  were  upon  entering!  There 
is  just  one  subject  taught  by  every  teacher  worthy  of  the 
name,  and  that  is  life  itself.  The  true  teacher  of  literature 
or  science  does  not  teach  these  subjects.  He  teaches  life 
with  literature  or  science  as  the  medium. 

He  tries  at  every  turn  to  see  his  calling  in  relation  to  the 
work  of  other  callings.^®  He  knows  that  the  school  has 
been  called  into  being  and  enriched  by  the  labors  of  men 
and  women  in  every  department  of  life,  the  world’s  toilers 
in  field  and  factory  and  market,  thinkers,  poets,  statesmen, 
seers.  The  history  of  education  is  a  record  of  how  all  that 
man  has  done  or  thought  or  dreamed  has  affected  for  better 
or  for  worse  the  upbringing  of  earth ’s  children.  And  now 
that  men  have  caught  a  glimpse  of  the  magnificent  hopes 
which  democracy  betokens,  the  school  must  be  more  than 
ever  consecrated  to  deliberately  enriching  and  elevating  the 
life  which  gave  it  birth. 

The  teacher  is,  after  all,  the  true  optimist.  The  child  is 
often  spoken  of  as  the  symbol  of  the  forward  look,  and  his 
unspoiled  faith  is  hailed  as  the  great  sign  of  hope.  But 
the  teacher  typifies  an  optimism  more  distinctly  ethical, 
because  it  is  more  deliberate  and  more  conscious  of  the 
arduousness  of  its  task.  That  the  school  exists  at  all  is  an 
expression  of  faith  that  people  ought  and  can  grow  into 
beings  vastly  better  than  they  are  now.  We  hear  it  said 
that  human  nature  can  never  be  changed  and  that,  in  some 
form  or  other,  the  moral  poverties  and  bestialities  with 
which  the  race  is  now  afflicted  must  always  persist.  Let 
the  biologists  settle  the  biologic  arguments  for  and  against. 
The  main  fact  is  that  human  nature  ought  to  he  changed, 

10  The  closest  relation  is  to  the  home.  The  growth  of  Parents’ 
Associations  is  a  good  sign.  The  movement  should,  however,  be  ex* 
tended  beyond  the  work  of  the  elementary  grades.  For  illustration 
of  the  possibilities  of  cooperation,  consult  School  and  Home,  the 
quarterly  published  by  The  Parents’  and  Teachers’  Association  of 
the  Ethical  Culture  School,  33  Central  Park  West,  New  York. 


372 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


and  changed  to  unspeakably  better  than  it  is  now.  Those 
who  have  caught  the  vision  of  the  life  to  which  this  im¬ 
perative  points  will  labor  to  devise  the  necessary  instru- 
ments ;  and  their  endeavors  will  be  unceasing. 


Questions  and  Problems 

1.  Contrast  the  teacher  of  to-day  with  Ichabod  Crane.  What 
progress  in  his  position  is  still  to  be  attained? 

2.  Study  the  teachers  whom  you  have  known  from  the  stand¬ 
point  of  their  leading  motives,  for  example,  worldly  motives, 
technical  interest,  ethical  interest. 

3.  What  is  the  effect  of  Regents  and  College  Entrance  require¬ 
ments  upon  the  highest  kind  of  teaching? 

4.  Does  self-government  in  schools  improve  the  teacher’s  stand¬ 
ing  with  his  pupils?  Is  the  “high  priest”  attitude  essential? 
How  can  it  be  avoided  without  the  teacher’s  becoming  just 
a  “good  fellow”? 

5.  Explain  why  some  young  people  with  an  idealistic  turn  of 
mind  are  not  attracted  to  the  teaching  profession. 

6.  Study  the  biography  of  any  great  teacher  and  enumerate,  in 
the  order  of  their  importance,  the  qualities  explaining  his 
or  her  power. 

7.  Read  Montaigne’s  essay  “Of  Pedantism”  and  apply  to  pres¬ 
ent-day  school  life. 

8.  Explain  why  the  best  of  moral  counsel  from  some  teachers 
fails  to  exert  the  desired  influence. 

9.  What  forces  in  your  community  are  working  against,  and 
what  with,  the  best  efforts  of  the  school? 

10.  Describe  the  training  and  study  which  you  think  a  teacher 
of  ethics  should  pursue. 


References 

See,  besides  references  in  text: 

Adler,  Felix,  An  Ethical  Philosophy  of  Life,  Book  IV,  Ch.  VI. 
Bagley,  W.  C.,  Classroom  Management,  Ch.  VIII. 

Bury,  J.  B.,  History  of  Freedom  of  Thought. 

Chafee,  Zechariah,  Freedom  of  Speech 


EDUCATION  FOR  MORAL  GROWTH 


373 


Henderson,  C.  H.,  Education  and  the  Larger  Life. 

Horne,  H.  H,,  The  Teacher  as  Artist. 

Inglis,  a.  J.,  Principles  of  Secondary  Education,  Ch.  IX. 
Jenks,  J.  W.,  Citizenship  and  the  Schools,  Ch.  VI. 

Mecklin,  j.  M.,  Introduction  to  Social  Ethics,  Ch.  XVI. 
Palmer,  G.  H.,  The  Ideal  Teacher. 

Skinner,  H.  M.,  The  Schoolmaster  in  Literature. 

Woodley,  0. 1.,  and  Woodley,  M.  V.,  The  Profession  of  Teaching. 
See  also  References  for  Chapter  I. 


INDEX 


Academic  freedom,  3QBff. 
Activities,  Ch.  XI. 

Adam  Bede,  323. 

Adams,  G.  P.,  64,  186. 

Adams,  Henry,  31,  70. 

Addams,  Jane,  11,  264,  274,  312, 
317. 

Adler,  Felix,  11,  45,  47,  50,  52,  54, 
64,  104,  164,  178  note,  246,  258, 
263,  285,  289  note,  349,  372. 
.Esthetic  sense,  313. 

Agriculture,  111,  164. 

Allen,  A.  W.,  291. 

Allen,  W.  H.,  286,  297. 

Andress,  J.  M.,  297. 

Angell,  Norman,  104. 

Antioch  College,  141  note. 
Apostle  Eliot,  235. 

Aristotle,  109,  191,  334. 
Armstrong,  Samuel,  104. 

Arnold,  Matthew,  46,  119,  239, 
258,  327. 

Art,  2Q2ff.;  see  also  Literature. 
Assemblies,  198. 

Athletics,  296. 


Babbitt,  Irving,  244  note. 

Bacon,  Francis,  129. 

Bacon,  Roger,  325. 

Bagley,  W.  C.,  104,  212,  317,  372. 
Bagster-Collins,  E.  W.,  262. 
Bahlsen,  Leopold,  262. 

Bailey,  L.  H.,  286. 

Balfour,  A.  J.,  120. 

Barker,  J.  E.,  130  note. 

Barnes,  Earl,  310  note,  312  note, 
317. 

Barnes,  H.  E.,  100  note. 

Barton,  Clara,  312. 


Beard,  C.  A.,  95  note,  274;  and 
M.  R.,  274. 

Beauty,  289,  313,  323;  and  Puri¬ 
tanism,  71. 

Becker,  Carl,  75,  86. 

Beethoven,  95,  182. 

Benevolent  impulses,  309. 
Bennett,  C.  E.,  119. 

Bent  Twig,  The,  285. 

Betts,  G.  H.,  164,  349. 

Bigelow,  M.  A.,  285  note. 
Biography,  240,  273,  282,  294, 
312,  324. 

Biology,  129,  280. 

Blackwell,  Elizabeth,  307,  312. 
Bligh,  S.  M.,  317. 

Bloomfield,  Meyer,  164. 

Bode,  B.  H.,  186. 

Bojer,  Johan,  136. 

Bond,  R.  A.,  136. 

Bonheur,  Rosa,  312. 

Boston  Latin  School,  106, 

Bourne,  H.  E.,  274. 

Bradford,  Gamaliel,  249. 
Bradford,  William,  68,  83. 
Brandeis,  Louis,  148  note. 
Breckenridge,  S.  P.,  262,  278. 
Breshkovsky,  Catherine,  334. 
Brewster,  Elder,  69. 

Briggs,  T.  H.,  164. 

Brigham,  A.  P.,  278. 

Bristol,  G.  P.,  119. 

Brooke,  Rupert,  103. 

Brooks,  J.  G.,  58,  103,  164. 
Brown,  R.  W.,  260. 

Bruno,  Giordano,  178,  304,  325. 
Bryant,  S.  C.,  259. 

Bryant,  W.  C.,  326  note. 

Bryce,  James,  24,  31,  46,  103, 
119,  366. 


375 


376 


INDEX 


Budgets,  292. 

Buisson,  Ferdinand,  369  note. 
Bureau  of  Educational  Experi¬ 
ments,  204  note. 

Burke,  Edmund,  15,  251,  270. 
Burns,  A.  T.,  86  note. 

Burns,  C.  D.,  105. 

Burns,  Robert,  46,  251. 

Bury,  J.  B.,  136,  372. 

Business  education,  164. 

Business  and  ethics,  162; 

and  Puritanism,  73jf. 

Butler,  N.  M.,  163. 

Butler,  Samuel,  147,  211. 

Byron,  Lord,  256. 


Cabot,  E.  L.,  246,  274,  309  note. 
Caldwell,  O.  W.,  286. 

Calvinism,  67,  69,  70,  72,  73ff. 
Canfield,  Dorothy,  211,  285,  290, 
316. 

Cannon,  W.  B.,  296. 

Carlton,  F.  T.,  164. 

Carlyle,  Thomas,  43,  46,  96,  164, 
259,  312. 

Cellini,  Benvenuto,  313. 

Chafee,  Zechariah,  23  note,  372. 
Chambers,  W.  G.,  329. 

Channing,  Edward,  83. 

Character  and  environment,  237. 
Chesterfield,  Lord,  217. 

China,  96,  276. 

Chubb,  Percival,  246,  259,  260,. 

264,  324,  330. 

Civics,  265ff. 

Civilization,  136. 

Classical  studies,  Ch.  VII. 
Cobden,  Richard,  325. 

Coe,  G.  A.,  349,  366  note. 

Colby,  J.  R.,  259. 

Coleridge,  S.  T.,  254. 

Colvin,  S.  S.,  317. 

Commerce  and  culture,  153  jf., 
162. 

Commission  on  Reorganization 


of  Secondary  Education,  191 
note. 

Committee  of  Eight,  265  note, 
273. 

i  Commons,  J.  R.,  23. 

Comstock,  A.  B.,  286. 

Condorcet,  Marquis  de,  30. 
Conklin,  E.  G.,  136. 

Conover,  E.,  297. 

Cooley,  A.  M.,  291. 

Cooper,  Lane,  119,  260. 
Cooperative  League  of  America, 
289  note. 

Cope,  H.  F.,  11,  64,  349. 

Cortez,  235. 

Cosmopolitanism,  90. 

“Cotter’s  Saturday  Night,  The,” 
322. 

Cox,  J.  H.,  259. 

Crevecoeur,  H.  St.,  88  note. 
Criminality,  3. 

Cubberley,  E.  P.,  11. 

Culture  and  conservatism,  112. 
Curie,  Madame,  122,  312. 

Curtis,  H.  S.,  297. 

Curzon,  Lord,  89. 


Damien,  Father,  309. 

Darwin,  Charles,  325. 

Davis,  J.  B.,  164,  260. 

Dawson,  G.  E.,  349. 

DeCoverley,  Sir  Roger,  288. 

DeGarmo,  Charles,  264. 

Democracy,  4,  8,  9,  15,  24,  31,  32, 
44,  49,  62,  79;  and  evolution, 
122;  and  intelligence,  244;  and 
science,  121  ff.;  in  school  life, 
192)7. 

Dewey,  John,  73,  118  note,  166)7., 
187,  196,  204  note,  212,  294, 
^17. 

Dickens,  Charles,  336. 

Dickinson,  G.  L.,  38,  94,  103, 
264. 

Disillusion,  50,  58,  230,  241. 


INDEX 


377 


Doctor’s  vocation,  151. 

Dodge,  R.  E.,  278. 

Dole,  C.  F.,  274,  309  note. 
Douglas,  P.  and  D.,  291. 

Dow,  A.  W.,  264. 

Drake,  Durant,  246,  285  note. 
Drew,  Daniel,  73. 

Duhamel,  Georges,  136. 

Dunn,  A.  W.,  206  note,  274,  309 
note. 

Duty  to  uncongenial,  50,  58,  230, 
241. 


Edwards,  Jonathan,  68,  71. 

Eliot,  C.  W.,  119. 

Eliot,  George,  329. 

Elliott,  J.  L.,  223,  224. 

Emerson,  R.  W.,  10,  11,  62,  82, 
241,  262,  270,  335,  349. 

England,  94. 

English  schools,  109. 

Epictetus,  309  note. 

Equality,  Ch.  Ill,  79;  and  eco¬ 
nomic  life,  33;  and  law,  34; 
and  political  life,  36,  37,  42; 
and  schooling,  35. 

Erskine,  J.,  11,  39,  77. 

Ethics  of  the  Professions  and  of 
Business,  The,  164. 

Ethical  and  social  conceptions 
compared,  171jl5^. 

Ethical  Culture  School,  359,  371 
note. 

Experience  and  intelligence,  179, 
183j5P.,  220,  228,  314. 


Faguet,  Emile,  96. 

Fairchild,  M.  J.,  322  note. 
Fair-mindedness,  26,  122,  2Q8ff., 
363)7. 

Faraday,  Michael,  325. 
Farnsworth,  C.  F.,  264. 
Farrington,  F.  E.,  369  note. 
Feelings,  Ch.  XV. 

Ferrer,  Francisco,  129. 


Festivals,  324. 

Feudal  ideas,  41. 

Findlay,  J.  J.,  109,  115  note. 

Fisher,  D.  C.,  212. 

Fiske,  John,  83. 

Flexner,  Abraham,  119,  129,  134, 
135. 

Foerster,  F.  W.,  97  note,  246, 
286  note,  311  note. 

Foght,  H.  W.,  164. 

Follett,  M.  P.,  274. 

Forbush,  W.  B.,  278. 

Formal  discipline,  110,  281,  293, 
314. 

Foster,  T.  W.,  285  note. 

France,  39,  97. 

Francis  W.  Parker  School,  199 
note,  212. 

Freedom,  Ch.  II;  as  non-infringe¬ 
ment,  17-20;  ethically  defined, 
20 ;  in  school  management, 
192j7.,  197. 

Freeland,  G.  E.,  212,  317. 

Free-will,  29. 

French  Educational  Ideals,  369 
note. 

French  Revolution,  15,  32,  40, 
366. 

Fretwell,  E.  K.,  212. 

Freud,  Sigmund,  300. 

Froebel,  Friedrich,  166, 

Frost,  Robert,  83, 


Gale,  Zona,  255. 

Galileo,  214 

Galloway,  T.  W.,  285  note. 
Galsworthy,  John,  265. 
Gantt,  H.  L.,  116  note. 
Garibaldi,  305. 

Garland,  Hamlin,  45,  250. 
Garrett,  L.  B.,  286. 

Gavit,  J.  P.,  262,  278. 
Geography,  275)7* 

George,  William,  305. 
Germany,  95,  197. 

Gibbons,  H.  A.,  105. 


378 


INDEX 


Gladstone,  W.  E.,  3,  95. 

Gleason,  A.  H.,  152  note. 
Goddard,  H.  H.,  30. 

Goethe,  J.  W.,  30,  56  note,  95, 
171,  273. 

Goldmark,  Josephine,  123  note. 
Goodlander,  M.  R.,  204  note,  212. 
Goodsell,  Willystine,  288,  291, 
Gosse,  Edmund,  349. 

Gould,  F.  J.,  246. 

Gray,  Thomas,  41. 

Great  Hunger,  The,  136. 

Grenfell,  Wilfred,  325. 

Griggs,  E.  H.,  259,  264. 

Grotius,  Hugo,  147,  225. 
Gruenberg,  Benjamin,  285  note. 


Haldane,  Lord,  113. 

Hall,  G.  S.,  262,  295,  330,  349. 
Hannah,  J.  C.,  212. 

Hanscom,  E.  D.,  71. 

Happiness,  129,  177. 

Harris,  H.  M.,  309  note. 
Harrison,  Jane,  323  note. 

Hart,  J.  K.,  Ill  note,  164,  165, 

212. 

Hartmann,  Gertrude,  317. 
Hartshorne,  H.,  349. 

Hawthorne,  Nathaniel,  304,  329. 
Hayne,  P.  H.,  249. 

Hayward,  F.  H.,  264. 

Hedonism,  see  Happiness. 
Henderson,  C.  H.,  11,  164,  262, 
372. 

Henderson,  E.  N.,  246. 

Henry,  Patrick,  272. 

Herbertson,  J.  A.,  and  F.  D.,  278. 
Herschel,  Caroline,  312. 

Hill,  D.  S.,  330. 

History,  265ff. 

Hobson,  J.  A.,  74. 

Hobhouse,  L.  T.,  266. 

Hocking,  W.  E.,  317. 

Hodges,  George,  246,  264,  349. 
Holiness  in  people,  342. 

Holmes,  Arthur,  317. 


Holmes,  J.  H.,  104. 

Horne,  H.  H.,  330,  349,  372. 
Hosic,  J.  F.,  259,  260. 

Household  arts,  287ff. 

Howe,  S.  G.,  325. 

Howells,  W.  D.,  256,  316. 
Huckleberry  Finn,  71  note. 
Hudson,  J.  W.,  11. 

Hughes,  R.  0.,  274. 

Hugo,  Victor,  252. 

Humor,  256. 

Hutchins,  W.  J.,  246. 

Huxley,  T.  H.,  109  note,  121,  136, 
349. 


Idealism  in  America,  8,  82,  100, 
101,  103. 

Imitation,  311. 

Immigrants,  38,  86,  103. 

Income  in  the  United  States,  290. 

Independence,  304. 

Individuality  not  egotistic,  22, 
40,  45,  58. 

Industrial  problem,  3,  116,  153, 
I56ff. 

Industrial  Revolution,  19,  117, 
156. 

Inglis,  A.  J.,  119,  262,  274,  373. 

Initiative  to  be  encouraged, 
194j5F. 

Instinct,  283,  302;  and  intelli¬ 
gence,  219. 

Instrumentalism,  167;  see  Prag¬ 
matism. 

Intelligence  and  moral  conduct, 
183,  215jf.,  344. 

Interests,  169,  192^5^.,  231,  301. 

Internationalism,  90,  91,  99,  102. 

International  Moral  Education 
Congress,  246. 

Inventions  of  the  Great  War, 
136. 

“Iowa  Plan,”  246. 

Irons,  David,  303  note. 

Irwin,  Will,  105. 


INDEX 


379 


Jackson,  Andrew,  76. 

James,  William,  167,  243,  302 
note,  319  note,  320  note,  357. 
Japan,  87,  96,  97. 

Jastrow,  Joseph,  302  note,  313 
note,  317. 

Jaures,  Jean,  369  note. 

Jefferson,  Thomas,  101,  269,  272, 
366. 

Jenks,  J.  W.,  373. 

Jesus,  338,  348. 

Jewish  religion,  336,  346. 
Johnson,  G.  E.,  297. 

Johnson,  H.,  274. 

Johnson,  J.  W^.,  26  note. 
Johnston,  C.  H.,  264. 

Jordan,  D.  S.,  130  note. 

Judd,  C.  H.,  262,  295. 

Justice,  23,  26,  34,  48,  49,  122, 
310. 


Kant,  Immanuel,  49,  125,  181, 
223,  283,  308. 

Keatinge,  M.  W.,  216  note,  274. 
Keyser,  C.  J.,  293  note. 
Kilpatrick,  W.  H.,  204  note. 
Kindergarten,  194. 

King,  H.  C.,  328  note,  330. 

King,  Irving,  245,  274,  349. 
Kingsley,  C.  D.,  278. 

Kirch wey,  Freda,  278. 
Kirkpatrick,  J.  A.,  295. 

Klapper,  Paul,  191  note,  210 
note,  212,  259,  260,  295,  330. 
Koch,  Dr.  Robert,  102. 

Krehbiel,  Edward,  105. 


Labor  problem;  see  Industrial 
problem. 

Landor,  W.  S.,  107. 

Lane,  F.  K.,  5. 

Lanier,  Sidney,  258. 

Lawlessness,  23,  24. 

Lawyer’s  vocation,  147. 

Lazear,  Dr.,  101. 


Lea,  H.  C.,  272. 

Learning  by  doing,  IQSff,, 

Lee,  Joseph,  297. 

Lee,  R.  E.,  249,  271. 

Leighton,  J.  A.,  187. 

Leonard,  S.  A.,  260. 

Leuba,  J.  H.,  349. 

Lewis,  F.  C.,  271  note. 

Libby,  F.  J.,  105. 

Liberty;  see  Freedom. 

Lincoln,  82,  109,  147,  177,  269. 
Lippman,  Walter,  25  note,  31, 
270  note,  281  note. 

Literature,  247^. 

Longfellow,  H.  W.,  249,  250. 
Lowell,  J.  R.,  28,  31,  84,  109, 
119,  134  note,  251,  259,  262. 
Luther,  Martin,  267. 

Luxury,  150. 

Lyman,  Edna,  259. 

Lyon,  Mary,  312. 


McAndrew,  William,  209, 
McBain,  H.  L.,  95  note. 

Macheth,  334. 

Macaulay,  T.  B.,  84. 

MacCunn,  John,  46,  246. 

Mace,  W.  H.,  2‘72  note. 
McClintock,  P.  L.,  259. 
McDougall,  William,  302  note. 
McLellan,  J.  A.,  294. 

McMurry,  C.  A.,  204  note,  274, 
278,  286. 

Maeterlinck,  Maurice,  268. 
Manchester  Guardian,  113. 
Mangold,  G.  B.,  31,  274. 

Mann,  Horace,  101,  325. 
Markino,  Yoshio,  252. 

Marot,  H.  M.,  148  note. 
Marriage,  289,  290. 

Marshall,  J.  A.,  291. 

Martin,  E.  D.,  11,  317. 

Martin,  E.  M.,  316. 

Marvin,  F.  S.,  105,  136. 
Mathematics,  291ff. 

Mather,  Nathaniel,  71. 


380 


INDEX 


Maxwell,  W.  H.,  234. 

Mecklin,  J.  M.,  31,  84,  164,  373. 
Meiklejohn,  Alexander,  111  note. 
Merchant  of  Yenice,  250. 

Meriam,  J.  L.,  212. 

Mexico,  96,  97. 

Mezes,  S.  E.,  246. 

Michelangelo,  360. 

Mill,  J.  S.,  38,  304,  349. 

Miller,  H.  A.,  262. 

Miller,  Joaquin,  249. 

Milton,  John,  83. 

Minority  opinion,  26,  268,  SQZjf. 
Mohammed,  342. 

Monroe,  Paul,  119,  262,  264,  286, 
297. 

Montaigne,  Michael,  357. 

Moral  Equivalent  of  War,  100- 

102. 

Moral  instruction,  182,  183,  185, 
Ch.  XII. 

Morality,  meaning  of,  6,  7,  47ff. 
Morality  of  custom,  217. 

More,  Sir  Thomas,  147,  240,  325. 
Motives,  higher  and  lower,  298ff. 
M  unroe,  J.  P.,  119. 

Murray,  Gilbert,  107,  133. 

Music,  264. 

Muzzey,  D.  S.,  266,  267. 

Myers,  P.  V.  N.,  274. 

My  Last  Duchess,  323. 


Napoleon,  315. 

Nasmyth,  George,  130  note. 
Nation,  The,  100  note,  363. 
National  Education  Association, 
99. 

Nationalism,  Ch.  VI;  and  re¬ 
ligion,  85. 

Nature  morally  indifferent,  126. 
Negro  problem,  20,  31. 

New  Republic,  37  note,  104,  270, 
363. 

Newspapers,  25,  270. 

Nicolai,  F.  G.,  130  note. 
Nietzsche,  Friedrich,  43. 


Nightingale,  Flo-rence,  309,  312. 
Norris,  Charles,  211. 

Norsworthy,  Naomi,  317. 

Occupational  diseases,  146. 

Olgin,  Moissaye,  37  note. 
Oriental  life  interpreted,  252, 
276. 

O’Shea,  M.  V.,  303  note,  317. 
Owen,  Robert,  325,  326  note. 


Paine,  A.  B.,  71  note. 

Paine,  Thomas,  269. 

Palmer,  A.  F.,  312. 

Palmer,  Frederick,  105. 

Palmer,  G.  H.,  147,  2l8ff.,  221, 
223,  264,  312  note,  313  note, 
373. 

Pandora,  122. 

Parents’  associations,  371  note. 
Park,  R.  E.,  262. 

Parker,  Carleton,  153  note. 
Parker,  S.  C.,  119,  264. 

Pasteur,  Louis,  30,  102,  135,  153 
note,  349. 

Pasvolsky,  Leo,  286. 

Patri,  Angelo,  212. 

Patriotism,  see  Nationalism;  see 
also  Public  service. 

Payot,  Jules,  243. 

Peace,  93,  99,  100,  101. 

Pearson,  Karl,  121. 

Perfect  life,  52,  54,  60,  61  note, 
94. 

Perry,  R.  B.,  136. 

Persecution,  16,  79. 

Pestalozzi,  Henry,  290. 

Petrarch,  Francis,  107. 
Philosophy  shaped  by  conduct, 
334,  338. 

Physical  education,  295. 

Plato,  135,  240,  236,  323. 
Plutarch,  325. 

Pound,  Arthur,  128  note,  148 
note. 


INDEX 


381 


Pragmatism,  Ch.  X,  301. 

Pratt,  J.  B.,  187. 

Priggishness,  236,  339. 

Progress,  6,  58,  60,  82,  268,  269, 
371. 

Project  method,  20lff. 
Promptings,  29Sff. 

Propaganda,  367. 

Property,  74  note. 

Provincialism,  333. 

Psychology,  the  moral  value  of, 
242. 

Public  service,  100,  101  149j^., 
308. 

Putnam,  E.  J.,  138  note,  288. 


Bapeer,  L.  W.,  297. 

Bathenau,  Walter,  164. 

Beed,  Dr.  Walter,  101,  152,  309. 
Beligion,  85,  182,  233,  250,  313, 
331  ft . 

Beport  of  Commission  on  Indus¬ 
trial  Belations,  23,  31. 
Representative  Men,  273  note. 
Beverence,  56,  327,  3M2ff. 

Bexford,  F.  A.,  274. 

Beynolds,  M.  J.,  278. 

Bichards,  E.  H.,  291, 

Bichardson,  B.  I.,  291. 
Bichardson,  N.  E.,  349. 

Biis,  Jacob,  149,  325,  336. 

^‘Bime  of  the  Ancient  Mariner, 
The,”  253. 

Bitual,  323. 

Bivalry,  305. 

Bobinson,  J.  H.,  5,  268  note,  365 
note. 

Bobinson,  Pastor,  72  note. 
Bogers,  Lindsay,  95  note. 
Romola,  245. 

Boss,  E.  A.,  84. 

Bossetti,  D.  G.,  63. 

Bousseau,  J.  J.,  72,  90,  126,  153 
note. 

Boyce,  Josiah,  349. 

Buskin,  John,  164,  259. 


Bussell,  Bertrand,  102,  104,  114, 
173  note,  180. 

Bussia,  37  note,  78,  117,  270,  360 


Sabbatical  leave,  359. 

Sadler,  M.  E.,  246. 

St.  John,  E.  P.,  259. 

Salter,  William,  64,  350. 

Schiller,  Frederick,  265. 

Schiller,  F.  C.  S.,  187,  265. 
Schinz,  Albert,  187. 

School  and  Home,  199  note,  202 
note,  205  note,  265,  371  note. 
Schurz,  Carl,  24. 

Science,  Ch.  VIII,  279ff.;  and 
democracy,  121  ff.,  280;  and  in¬ 
ternational  concord,  282;  and 
social  progress,  123. 

Scott,  C.  C.,  204  note,  212. 
Seguin,  Dr.,  302. 

Self-assertion,  305,  314. 
Self-expression,  22. 
Self-government,  24,  27,  97,  98, 
199  ff. 

Self-respect,  303. 

Service  to  school  and  community, 
207ff.,  308. 

Sex  education,  216,  284^.,  289. 
Shafer,  Bobert,  31,  136,  187. 
Shaftesbury,  A.  A.  C.,  309  note. 
Shand,  A.  F.,  303  note. 

Sharp,  F.  C.,  196  note,  206  note, 
246,  265,  313  note. 

Sheldon,  W.  L.,  309  note. 

Shelley,  P.  B.,  256. 

Shorey,  Paul,  107  note.  111  note. 
Shuster,  W.  M,,  342  note. 
Sidney,  Sir  Philip,  325. 

Sies,  A.  C.,  297. 

Sisson,  E.  0.,  11,  246. 

Skinner,  H.  M.,  373. 

Sloane,  William,  144  note. 

Small,  W.  H.,  84,  111  note. 

Smith,  D.  E.,  291  note,  295. 
Smith,  J.  A.,  31. 

Smith,  Meredith,  204  note. 


382 


INDEX 


Sneath,  E.  H.,  246,  264. 

Snedden,  David,  166,  276. 

Snowbound,  261,  322. 

Social  ethics,  6,  7,  67;  7Sff.,  84; 
feelings,  307;  heredity,  266; 
studies,  274. 

Socialism,  364. 

Socrates,  27,  28,  240,  326. 

Soddy,  Frederick,  136. 

Speech  on  Conciliation  with  the 
American  Colonies,  261. 

Spencer,  A.  G.,  288  note,  291. 

Spencer,  Herbert,  17,  123,  126, 
128,  129,  136,  141  note,  291. 

Spiller,  Gustav,  246,  289  note. 

Spinoza,  Benedict,  30,  293. 

Spiritual,  claims  denied,  29,  49; 
ideals,  316;  nature,  ^7ff.,  53, 
63;  power,  344;  ties,  131,  132, 
171. 

Spohr,  W.  H.,  291. 

Squirrel  Cage,  The,  290. 

Stanton,  E.  C.,  230. 

Starbuck,  E.  D.,  350. 

Steiner,  E.  A.,  86  note. 

Stevenson,  J.  A.,  204. 

Stevenson,  R.  L.,  30,  204  note, 
215,  243. 

Story-telling,  247. 

Stowe,  A.  M.,  260. 

Strong,  A.  G.,  291. 

Suggestion,  299. 

Sully,  James,  303  note. 

Survey,  The,  18,  152,  204  note, 
363. 

Survival  of  the  fittest,  35,  73,  74, 
131,  283. 

Sutherland,  W.  J.,  278. 

Swift,  E.  J.,  317. 


Tagore,  Kabindranatli,  92  note, 
105,  252. 

Talbot,  Marion,  291. 
Tannenbaum,  Frank,  164. 
Tawney,  R.  H.,  164, 

Taylor,  VY4  iilU,  351  note. 


Teacher,  213,  Ch.  XVII;  and 
principal,  363;  and  staff,  362. 
Teachers’  compensation,  Z53ff. 
Teacher’s  perils,  355. 

Teachers’  Union,  365  note. 

Tead,  Ordway,  148  note. 

Terman,  L.  M.,  297. 

Thomas,  Calvin,  262. 

Thomas,  C.  S.,  259,  260. 
Thomson,  J.  A.,  136. 

Thorndike,  E.  L.,  303  note,  317. 
Thrift,  289,  292. 

Times,  New  York,  270. 
Tocqueville,  Alexis  De,  26,  37, 
245. 

Tolstoi,  Leo,  254. 

Trotter,  Spencer,  279. 

Trudeau,  Dr.  E.  L.,  102. 

Tuell,  H.  E.,  279. 

Tufts,  J.  H.,  31,  46,  246. 

Turner,  F.  J.,  31,  46. 

Twain,  Mark,  43,  71  note,  186, 
249,  256,  316,  358. 

Twiss,  G.  R.,  286. 


Ultimate  standards,  174,  175. 
Unlikeness,  42,  43,  44,  51,  79,  91, 
94,  228. 

Urwick,  E.  J.,  291. 

Utopia,  122,  147. 


Value,  48. 

Veblen,  Thorstein,  136,  291. 
Verification,  132,  133. 

“Vision  of  Sir  Launfal,  The,” 
255. 

Vocation,  Ch.  IX,  299,  306;  and 
culture,  118,  141. 

Wallace,  A.  R.,  136. 

Wallas,  Graham,  136,  148  note, 
303  note. 

War,  5,  20,  92,  99. 

Washington,  B,  T.,  207. 


INDEX 


383 


Washington,  George,  272. 

Webb,  Beatrice  and  Sidney,  164. 
Webster,  A.  W.,  187. 

Webster,  Daniel,  82,  272. 

Wells,  H.  G.,  69,  104,  109  note, 
138,  346. 

Wells,  M.  E.,  204  note. 

West,  A.  F.,  107,  110,  144  note. 
White,  W.  E.,  316. 

Whitman,  Walt,  45,  137. 

Whittly,  M.  T.,  317. 

Wild  Boy  of  Avignon,  362. 

Wile,  I.  S.,  286  note. 

William  the  Silent,  326. 
Williams,  Roger,  80. 

Wilm,  E.  C.,  350. 

Wilson,  H.  B.  and  G.  M.,  212. 


Wilson,  G.  M.,  295. 

Winchell,  C.  M.,  291. 

Winthrop,  R.  C.,  84. 

Withers,  Hartley,  164,  291. 
Women’s  education,  i37jgF. 

Wood,  Gen.  L.  H.,  10. 

Woodcraft  League,  287. 
Woodhull,  J.  F.,  286. 

Woodley,  0.  I.  and  M.  V.,  373. 
Wordsworth,  William,  30,  256, 
343. 

Workingmen’s  colleges,  162. 
Worth,  41,  47#. 

Wu  Ting  Fang,  103,  262. 


Yocum,  A.  D.,  119. 

ip) 


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